Why Is The Picosecond Laser Better Than Traditional IPL
Wouldn’t it be great if our skin didn’t age along with us? If we could have the same hydrated, smooth, blemish-free, even-toned skin that we had when we were younger? Unfortunately, with aging, our skin starts to reveal age spots, sun damage, discoloration, and more.
Even though our skin isn’t reversing time on its own, we thankfully have incredible science-based skin care technology that helps us rewind or at least pause the clock on aging skin. Every day it seems like the skincare industry is advancing in new techniques, technologies, and products. We’ve got serums, chemical peels, facials, oxygen injections, micro-needling, and more recently, light and laser therapy.
So when you’re starting to show signs of discoloration due to age, sun damage, melasma, and acne scarring, how do you make it disappear? Putting on heaps of concealer and foundation is expensive, time-consuming, and only masks the problem instead of solving it.
So let’s talk about 2 revolutionary treatments that can help even out your skin tone and remove unwanted age spots and discoloration! IPL and Picosecond Laser treatments are both light therapy treatments that target and eliminate discoloration in the skin. Both are incredible treatments that give people great results, but you may find that the Picosecond Laser is better than the traditional IPL when it comes to achieving desired results.
Let’s take a look at both treatments!
IPL - Intense Pulsed Light Therapy
Intense Pulsed Light Therapy (IPL), also known as a “photofacial,” is a non-invasive treatment that uses lightwave technology to target darker pigments in the skin like freckles, birthmarks, age spots, sun damage, and even varicose veins.
Using several wavelengths of light, IPL will penetrate the second layer of the skin (the dermis) without damaging the outer layer or epidermis.
When you have an IPL treatment, the targeted skin cells will react to the light, absorb the energy, heat up, and ultimately destroy themselves, leaving you with a lighter, less noticeable area.
It is a relatively painless treatment, about 2-3 on a scale of 1-10, and most say it feels like a tiny rubber band being snapped on your face.
The treatment lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and requires no downtime.
Picosecond Laser
The Picosecond laser is a newer skincare treatment that uses laser technology to treat discoloration. Similar to the IPL, the Picosecond Laser can treat:
Acne scars
Sun damage
Age spots
Varicose veins
Birthmarks
Melasma
Freckles
It can also help treat those with darker skin complexions. This is something that the Picosecond does that the IPL isn’t as equipped to treat
The Picosecond laser shots a singular beam of light (laser) extremely fast into the skin, heating any excessive pigmentation and destroying it.
It is non-invasive, the treatment lasts less than an hour, and a re-hydrating, re-nourishing facemask is given post-treatment.
It is 1,000 times faster than traditional IPL or any other type of laser or light technology on the market, which makes the Picosecond laser better than traditional IPL in that aspect.
Another reason that the Picosecond laser is better than traditional IPL is because of the Picoseconds concentrated laser. It reaches and affects cells deeper in the skin, creating longer-lasting results than the IPL, which focuses on the superficial layers.
Which Treatment Should I Choose?
When deciding what treatment is best for you, we highly suggest consulting with your aesthetic professional for eligibility and what would work best for your skin. Here at Healthkey Medspa, our goal is to provide you with the most compatible treatment for YOU. Therefore, we offer both the IPL and Picosecond Laser treatments in our medspa locations throughout New York City to give our clients the best of both treatments.
To learn more about us and how our medspa can help you, we encourage you to browse our variety of treatments and book a consultation with one of our experienced aestheticians.