Intense Pulsed Light (IPL), also known as photo-facial, fotofacials, and photo rejuvenation is a state of the art system and the latest technique in photofacial therapy. This treatment is perfect for those whose skin reflects early signs of aging and who cannot afford the recovery time associated with other procedures. The BBL system delivers high intensity, smooth and powerful pulses of light (not lasers) that enhance your results of skin rejuvenation. Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) is an extremely successful method of treating skin blemishes. These include sun damaged skin (age spots or sun spots), facial blood vessels (broken capillaries) that are close to the surface of the skin, uneven pigmentation, dull skin, fine lines, wrinkling and facial redness due to rosacea,. It is also a wonderful treatment for the flushing redness that people often experience after eating spicy food, heat, drinking alcohol or after a stressful or emotional event. BBL treatments leave a rejuvenated, soft, smooth and even-toned appearance without a lengthy healing time. BBL does not have the side effects of past laser treatment such as scarring, downtime, pain or oozing. BBL is one of the most popular treatments because of the improvements it provides. Approximately 3-6 treatments are needed to achieve the desired results. Most patients are extremely happy with the cosmetic results.

Each treatment takes about 20 minutes. The skin is pre-treated with a cool gel. Then, a hand-held device emits small intense bursts of light to the skin. The targeted areas such as blood vessels, brown discoloration, port wine stains, hyperpigmentation, age spots/sunspots, freckles, flat pigmented birthmarks or redness absorb the light wave, heat up and then are broken down. The penetration depth and degree of heat is highly controlled to minimize complications. The procedure is continued until all of the abnormal skin has received the small pulses of light.

An additional bonus is that the treatment causes inflammation of tiny blood vessels in the skin which stimulate the production of new collagen.

It is possible to shrink sebaceous glands (oil glands), and pore size, with repeated treatments. The number of treatments necessary to achieve this result varies from patient to patient. Other areas that effectively can be treated are: mild acne scars, acne, facial and leg veins, selectively targeting hair follicles and angioma.

IPL photo rejuvenation is a noninvasive, safe method to improve the look and feel of the skin without undergoing the pain and downtime associated with deep laser resurfacing. Deep laser resurfacing removes the entire epidermis leaving the skin vulnerable to infection and requires 3-4 weeks of patient downtime and an even longer time to complete healing.

There is a slight discomfort associated with the treatment. Each pulse of the BBL feels like an elastic band snapping against the skin. Numbing creams such as EMLA and Maxilene can be used prior to treatment, but are generally not required.

You will notice results after one or two treatments, depending on the nature of the problem. Some skin problems will require several treatments before you see any difference.

Any area can be treated. These may include the face, neck, chest, back, hands, arms, legs and feet.

A series of 3-6 treatments is usually recommended for most skin types and body areas. Treatments are usually done 3-4 weeks apart. Your technician will determine the number of treatments that your specific skin type and condition will require at the time of your consultation and treatment.

BBL is an excellent choice for women and men of all ages considering treatment for various skin problems including:

• Brown or age/sun spots
• Fine lines and wrinkles
• Hyperpigmentation
• Pregnancy mask
• Acne
• Rosacea
• Broken capillaries
• Facial spider veins
• Leg veins
• Enlarged pores
• Enlarged oil glands (sebaceous hyperplasia)
• Mild acne scars
• Unwanted hair
• Abnormal skin pigmentation
• Dull skin
• Port wine stains
• Angioma

The benefits of BBL expand to include maintaining healthy skin once it has been corrected and delaying the signs of ageing.

Think of the Forever Young BBL as a maintenance treatment to delay the signs of ageing, whereas BBL Skin Rejuvenation is when the BBL is being used to target a specific concern.

Forever Young BBL is the first and only treatment designed to delay the appearance of visible skin ageing in all patients, including those with darker skin types. In addition to clinical improvement in the appearance of photodamaged skin, there is evidence supporting that long term regular BBL treatments will enhance the expression of youth related genes in aged skin cells, essentially reversing the ageing process and returning skin to a genetically youthful state.

Preventing and reversing the signs of fine lines, wrinkles, skin laxity, age spots, uneven pigmentation and textural changes are newly discovered benefits of regular BBL treatments. The common effects of photoageing in patients with darker skin types are not as obvious, although these patients do still experience the inevitable process of ageing.

A recent study showed that regular treatments of BBL of 2 to 4 times per year seemed to delay visible signs of ageing. This study included 15 patients of 38-69 years of age, who had at least 1 treatment per year for 5-11 years. The before and after pictures of the patients over this period of time showed that their skin condition was virtually unchanged.

The results of this study was further investigated at a genetic level. The gene expression of “Forever Young” treated aged skin, and untreated aged skin were compared to a young skin. Of the 2265 genes whose expression was altered in aged skin, 1293 were fully restored to the expression seen in the younger skin.

This groundbreaking study provided additional support behind the age defying benefits of BBL.

Optimal results for maintaining healthy skin and delaying ageing require 4 x Forever Young treatments per year. Treatments are generally well tolerated with no expected downtime and minimal risk of an adverse event.