HOW IPL PHOTOREJUVENATION CAN IMPROVE YOUR ROSACEA
If you struggle with the skin condition rosacea, you may resort to using makeup to camouflage the unwelcome redness.When other symptoms emerge, like inflammation and pustules, they can be harder to hide. You might also have tried many home remedies, to no avail.
Dr. Pamela Kimbrough and the Life’s Cycle team embrace an innovative skin treatment that helps control rosacea symptoms, as well as symptoms of other skin conditions like acne, spider veins, and hyperpigmentation (age spots) — intense pulsed light therapy (IPL). Adding this treatment means we can offer you a more complete menu of services.
Our talented team member Peggy Dickson performs these treatments with a highly skilled hand. Not only does she have nearly two decades of dermatology treatment experience, she’s certified by the Dermatology Nurses’ Association and is specially certified to perform IPL treatment.
WHAT IS ROSACEA?
Rosacea is a skin condition that causes your blood vessels to become noticeable, resulting in redness and blotchiness on your face. This is the most obvious symptom of the condition, but other symptoms include:
High skin sensitivity (You may feel like your skin is burning or stinging)
Skin swelling
Dryness, scaling
Pustule development
Rosacea also can cause unpredictable flares, during which symptoms worsen. Some of the causes of flares include sun and wind exposure, exerting yourself through exercise, spicy food, alcohol, and even crying and feeling emotional. It’s pretty impractical to expect yourself to avoid all these things, so finding good treatment is critical.
Unfortunately, aside from not feeling you look your best because of your rosacea, its tendency to become more visible unexpectedly leads to stress and discouragement.
WHAT CAN HELP MY ROSACEA?
You can do some things to mitigate flares, like protecting yourself from the sun and staying in when it’s windy out, making dietary changes, and taking steps to manage stress. Medications can also impact rosacea, so talk to your doctor about that.
Traditional home treatments, including using everything from products with oatmeal, lavender essential oil, and aloe may also help calm symptoms.
Unfortunately, these types of measures aren’t usually successful at getting rosacea truly under control for the long term.
Life’s Cycle is proud to offer rosacea relief in the form of IPL laser therapy, a noninvasive treatment that’s easy to tolerate, doesn’t require lots of time, and works to quell your rosacea symptoms. We use the state-of-the-art LumenisⓇ IPL platform, which has proved to be highly successful for us and our patients who live with rosacea.
IPL treatments involve directing targeted light pulses, released at different wavelengths, to your affected areas. Peggy has the ability to customize the procedure to your specific symptoms.
As your appointment begins, we carefully apply a cooling gel on your targeted treatment area and then proceed with the treatment, which typically lasts only 30 minutes. Most patients feel a slight stinging during treatment, as if a small rubber band was hitting your skin. The treatment is highly tolerable, and each pulse lasts only a millisecond.
An important thing to remember about IPL treatments is what you should and shouldn’t do prior to your treatment:
Avoid the sun for a minimum of six weeks
Stop using any Retinol products for two months before treatment
Cease using the acne medication Accutane for six months before treatment
During this period, we prescribe a special medical-grade sunscreen for you to use, as well as a skin care regimen. The majority of IPL treatment recipients get an average of three to five treatments for optimal results.
After your treatment, you may experience minor swelling in your treatment area, patchy redness, and “chocolate chipping,” which is when minute areas of your treated skin darken and dry; within a week, the chocolate chipping falls off your skin.
You can re-enter your normal life after your treatment. Feel free to cover any discolored areas of your skin while it’s healing with makeup.
Patients are often amazed when the results from their IPL treatments become fully visible, about a week to 10 days after treatment.
Our rosacea patients in particular are delighted to say farewell to their facial discoloration and welcome feeling more positive about their appearance. The therapy also turbocharges your skin’s collagen and elastin production, which benefits your skin by restoring resilience.
Though there’s no cure for rosacea, IPL laser therapy is a game-changing treatment that restores your skin in profound ways.
Call either our Admore or Norman, Oklahoma, office to schedule an appointment to discuss IPL laser treatment for your rosacea, or contact us through our website.
