Pulse Broad Band Light treatments – Adding to my series on how to maintain a youthful appearance, the post today is on Intense Pulse Light (IPL) treatments. I have been excited about this topic because it is highly effective, however most people do not know much about what it does or how it works. The type of IPL we use at Flower Mound Plastic Surgery & Aesthetic Spa is Broad Band Light or BBL. Broad Band Light treatments deliver intense pulses of visible light to the skin and the treatment effectively improves red spots, brown spots, sun damage, and stimulates collagen production to improve fine lines and over time helps the skin maintain a youthful look.
A study out of Stanford indicates BBL works on a genetic level to change the gene expression in your skin. The study looked at 2 groups of people, sixty-year-old women with significant sun damage on their arms and twenty-year-old women with no sun damage. Both groups underwent biopsies of their arms and the gene expression in their skin was evaluated. The sixty-year-old group then had their arms treated with BBL followed by a repeat biopsy and gene expression evaluation. After undergoing BBL treatments, the gene expression in the sixty-year-old group looked more like the gene expression in the twenty-year-olds compared to their untreated sixty-year-old gene expression. This was an exciting finding because it indicated it may be possible to create a functional change in the skin to create youthful skin rather than doing things in an attempt to mimic youthful skin.
Improve Fine Lines
Regardless of how it works, I am absolutely convinced it works clinically to improve fine lines, erase brown and red spots from sun damage, improve acne, and help with skin texture. Although you will see a difference after one treatment, the results will not blow your mind after using it only once. In other words, do not expect to look a decade younger after the first time you try it. Using it quarterly along with Botox will dramatically improve your appearance over time, and in fact, it would be completely possible to have better skin at the age of 55 compared to 50 with routine use.
BBL is slightly uncomfortable but by no means painful. You may feel like you have a sun burn for about 30 minutes, but other than staying out of the sun, there is no real downtime. Broad Band Light cannot be used if you have been in the sun much due to the risk of burning your skin. BBL energy plus the sun’s energy equals too much energy for the skin to safely absorb over a short time period. The other disadvantage of BBL is it cannot be used in darker skinned individuals. It does attack pigment, so really dark skin cannot be treated with it.
BBL treatments are included in our monthly memberships. If you are not already an FMPS Prime Member then come in and let one of our aestheticians set up a plan for you. Please see the attached video below for more information on BBL and its benefits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3eiGIHDE78
