Intense Pulsed Light therapy, or IPL therapy for short, is a non-invasive treatment method for giving the skin a younger-looking appearance. Its purpose is to reverse some of the signs of aging that naturally develop as the years slip by.
As you age, your skin will begin to lose a considerable amount of its fullness and begin to sag. The sagging is also accompanied by lines and wrinkles. What causes this to happen is a lack of sufficient amounts of collagen in the lower layers of the skin.
Collagen is a protein that helps hold tissue together in the body. It also gives fullness and tightness to the skin. During the years of your youth, the amount of collagen the body produces is significantly higher than it is after the years start to add up. This natural decrease in the collagen level means the skin is lacking what it needs to keep it as tight and full as it once was.
IPL therapy helps to reduce the signs of aging by stimulating the lower levels of the skin to produce more collagen. It does this with heat. As the energy from the pulses of intense light are absorbed by the skin, it converts to heat in the lower layers. As a reaction to the heat, the body will produce more collagen in the skin. When this happens, the collagen levels begin to return to what they were before aging caused the amount to decrease. Returning the collagen to a higher level also returns the skin to a former level of tightness.
When IPL treatments are delivered, the collagen level will continue to increase over the next several months. At the end of this time, the skin will have reached its peak in terms of fullness, as a result of the collagen. This results in that younger appearance that you were hoping to regain.
Elastin is another substance in the skin that diminishes with age. It is what helps the skin to retract after it is stretched by things like normal body movements. Just like the heat from the therapy increases collagen production, it stimulates the production of elastin as well.
IPL therapy at our San Antonio med spa can also help to break up those dark spots that tend to show up with age. The most likely cause of these age spots is exposure to the sun. When you spend time soaking up the rays of the sun, the body has a way of trying to protect itself against the harmful UV rays to which you are exposed. The way it does this is with the addition of melanin, which is what gives the skin its pigment. IPL therapy helps to get rid of the sunspots by breaking up the concentrated melanin. As it does, the spots will begin to diminish over time.
If you have spots, lines or wrinkles that are making you look older than you would like, you should ask the team at Spa Black, a premier spa in San Antonio, about how IPL therapy can help. Contact us today to schedule a consultation!