Page 195 - Chapter 3 - Laser/IPL Hair Removal

Chapter 3 – Fundamentals of Laser/IPL Hair Removal 2nd Edition
When cooling the skin you must cool before, during and after the application of the energy. Remember, we are deliberately trying to “burn” the skin – but using a controlled burn designed to selectively damage just the hair follicles, not the surrounding skin.
As we heat the skin with the light energy, we must also remove excess heat form the skin using cooling. Skin surface contact cooling is the most efficient way to do this – using ice packs or similar.
Our research has shown that it is possible to cool the skin so well that very little sensation is felt, even at higher fluences. This is easily possible if ice-cooling is applied correctly and for a sufficient time (typically a few minutes). In such cases, you will need to reassure your patient/client that the treatment will work, even though they cannot ‘feel’ it. This truly can be a case of a “pain-free” treatment!
The only caveat here is that very dark skin cannot be cooled enough, regardless of the ice- cooling. In some people, there is just too much melanin which will generate too high a temperature to cool properly. Applying an ice pack on a treatment area for up to ten minutes after a session is a good way to remove heat energy and minimise any potential skin damage in future.
Note that most commercially available laser and IPL systems used today offer a ‘cold’ tip. These are usually designed to keep some of the laser/IPL components cold. They do not have sufficient power to cool the skin to the required temperature. We simply cannot rely on equipment cold tips to cool the skin properly!
Contraindications
There are a range of contra-indications which must be carefully considered before starting any laser/IPL treatment. These include medications, other treatments (such as cancer therapy), state of health, state of the skin, porphyria (light sensitivity), a tanned skin and any skin condition which has changed the natural physiology and/or structure of the skin.
Please note that this is not an exhaustive list by any means. Please investigate this further by checking online reference sources.
Timings
As discussed in Section 3.4 the intervals between repeat sessions are important in determining the final number of sessions required.
The longer the interval,
the fewer treatments overall are needed!!
________________________________________________________________________ 195 Chapter 3, Ed. 2.0 Laser/IPL Hair Removal
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