Exact Answer: After 2 to 3 weeks
Intense pulsed light known as IPL therapy is the best way of improving the texture of the skin without any type of surgery. This therapy uses the broadband light of particular width to reduce the spots, scars, and so on. This treatment takes nearly 30 to 40 minutes.
Although this popular procedure is completed in a short amount of time, it gives optimum results to an individual. It is almost similar to laser therapy but the key difference is it is a non-invasive treatment and uses a wavelength of multiple frequencies to achieve better results. The face should be completely dried and cleaned during this procedure and to safeguard eyes from laser lights, protective eye shields are used during the treatment.
How Long After IPL can I Get a Facial?
It is not recommended to get a facial right away after IPL treatment. It is always the best practice to give the required time such as a couple of weeks to get healed from IPL treatment. Usually, it is done to remove the skin cells which are dead. Even microdermabrasion facial is recommended after 3 weeks of last IPL treatment.
Though it is very safe and simple therapy and no downtime is required for any non-invasive laser treatment, every treatment requires its own specific time to recover and when any additional treatment is done immediately after the IPL therapy it may lead to a worse situation rather than getting better. For individuals who require more than one IPL treatment, it can be done with a space of three weeks.
You can start to expertise the benefits of this therapy within 24 hours of post-treatment and few other improvements can be seen in the following weeks. To gain maximum result, you should be careful while doing few specific things which maximize the risk of side effects and reduce the positive results. Few products might lead to irritation when mixed with IPL Photofacials treatment and sometimes longer the healing time.
Exfoliants such as retinol also should be avoided. It is best to avoid retinol before 2 weeks of IPL treatment to avoid a risky situation. If irritation and redness increase above the tolerating level, 1% hydrocortisone cream is worth using on treated areas, but redness decreases within few hours. Darkening of the discolored areas is the best indication that the IPL therapy is working.
| Type of Facial | Time to wait after IPL |
| Microdermabrasion | 2-3 weeks |
| High-Frequency Facial | 3 weeks |
| Microcurrent Facial | 16 days |
Why Do I Have To Wait That Long To Get Facial After IPL?
Improvements and healing process varies from person to person. Some people may find it within a couple of days whereas most people experience it in 2 to 3 weeks. It is always necessary to take the required precautions to protect the treated area from getting a burn. In unavoidable situations, those burns can be resolved without any long-term effects.
It would be best to do further facial t treatments after proper spacing to avoid irritation in your skin. Due to its sensitive nature, it gets reacted to chemicals used in facial treatment rapidly. It is good to avoid using any type of lotions, creams, and serum before IPL. Antibiotics and facial should be stopped a week before the treatment. The skin should be treated gently and hot water should be avoided for a day. Allow those dark spots to flake off naturally by themselves.
The most popular side effect is the darkening of spots or freckling. Sunlight should be avoided even before 2 weeks of the treatment to prevent yourself from any serious reactions when mixed with treatment. During the treatment, you may feel a little uncomfortable and feel like a rubber band is snapped against the skin.
After the IPL therapy, there will be few darkened areas due to laser treatment which will start to subside after 48 hours and can be recovered completely in 6 to 8 days depending upon the skin texture. But once when skin gets exfoliated using a few chemicals and acids like glycolic and lactic, it takes longer to recover.
Conclusion
In today’s technology world, IPL is not the only method to remove spots or unwanted hair. Skin starts peeling off and starts to dry out, which is also an indication of better working of IPL treatment. If series of treatments are done by a specialist with specific spacing between them, noticeable and greatest results could be found.
IPL therapy always gives your skin a fresh start. If you take proper precautions and good care of the treated skin, you might maintain the results for more days. IPL can be done anywhere in the body except few specific uneven areas.