Procedure

Intense Pulsed Light (IPL)

A broad-spectrum flashlamp, not a laser, used mainly for brown sun spots and facial redness. It is effective for those two problems on lighter skin, and it is not safe on deeper skin tones.
Dr. Schwarz, MD · Board-certified dermatologistLast reviewed September 8, 2026
16:9 hero for IPL (Intense Pulsed Light). Never cropped: the tone strip and the corner logo depend on the full frame.

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IPL does two things well: it fades flat brown sun spots and it reduces background facial redness and small visible vessels. What I repeat most often is who it is not for — IPL is not a laser, it is a broad band of light, so any pigment in its path absorbs the energy, including the pigment that is simply your skin color. That is why it burns and leaves lasting light or dark patches on deeper skin tones, why I do not use it there, and why a recent tan means rescheduling at any skin tone. It is also a common way for melasma to get worse, so if your brown patches might be melasma, that question needs answering before anyone fires a device at your face.

— Dr. Schwarz, Board Certified Dermatologist

Key Facts

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Also calledIntense pulsed light, photofacial, photorejuvenation, BBL, broadband light
TreatsFlat brown sun spots, facial redness and small visible vessels, rosacea redness, sun-related discoloration on the neck and chest. Also used for hair reduction and, by eye doctors, for a type of dry eye
DowntimeMinimal. A few hours to 2 days of redness, then brown spots darken and flake off over about 5 to 14 days
SessionsUsually 3 to 5 for the face, 3 to 4 weeks apart, then maintenance once or twice a year. Hair reduction takes more
Typical costRoughly $300 to $600 per session for the face in the US. Varies by city, area treated, and package
Results timelineBrown spots flake off within about 2 weeks. Redness improves gradually over a course
PainA snap like a rubber band with each pulse, with cold gel and cold air. Usually no numbing needed
Skin tone safetyNot recommended on deeper skin tones or on tanned skin. Risk of burns, blisters, and lasting light or dark patches

What It Is

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IPL is not a laser, and the difference matters. A laser emits one wavelength aimed at one target. IPL is a flashlamp emitting a broad band at once, roughly 500 to 1200 nanometers, with filters blocking the shorter wavelengths. That broad band lets IPL treat brown pigment and red vessels in the same pass, which is its main advantage. It is also why it is less selective than a laser, and why pigment in the skin absorbs energy meant for the target. The handpiece is a flat glass window pressed on the skin through cold gel, not a beam aimed at a spot, so it covers ground quickly — a full face takes about 20 minutes. Some devices have their own names, such as BBL or BroadBand Light, and photofacial is a marketing term for the same thing. Machines differ in filters, cooling and pulse control, but they are one family.

How It Works

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Light is absorbed by colored targets in the skin, which then heat up. Here that means melanin, the brown pigment in freckles and sun spots, and oxyhemoglobin, the red pigment in blood.

For brown spots, the pigment heats and the cells carrying it are damaged, then pushed to the surface over the next few days. A treated sun spot darkens into a coffee-ground speck for about a week, then flakes off.

For redness, blood in small vessels heats, the vessel wall is damaged, and the vessel collapses and clears over several weeks — so redness improves gradually rather than immediately.

For hair, pigment in the hair shaft conducts heat down to the follicle. Only actively growing hairs respond, which is why hair reduction needs many sessions weeks apart.

Light cannot tell the pigment you are targeting from the pigment that makes up your skin color. In skin with a lot of background melanin, or in tanned skin, that background absorbs much of the energy. The heat spreads through the outer layer instead of concentrating in the target, and that is how IPL causes burns, blisters and lasting color change.

What It Treats

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No strong evidence for any condition.

Not the Best For

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Wrinkles, Scars, Pores and Loose Skin
Doesn't work
IPL works on color, not on texture. Wrinkles, indented scars, pore size and loose skin do not change. It also does not reach pigment that sits in the lower layer of the skin.

Pros and Cons

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Pros
  • Two problems in one pass Brown sun spots and facial redness in one session.
  • Genuinely low downtime Normal activity the same day, makeup within two.
  • Covers large areas quickly A full face takes about 20 minutes.
  • Good evidence for its two main uses Flat sun spots and facial redness.
  • Reasonable cost per session Less than fractional laser resurfacing.
Cons
  • Not suitable for deeper skin tones Burns and lasting pigment change.
  • A common trigger for melasma Melasma often rebounds worse.
  • Does nothing for texture Color only.
  • Tanning stops treatment Recent sun or self-tanner means postponing.
  • It is a course, and results fade Three to five sessions, then maintenance.
  • Operator skill matters a lot A person picks the settings, not the device.

How to Prepare

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4 weeks before2 weeks before3 to 5 days before
Sun and tanning
4 weeks before
No sun, sunbeds or self-tanner. This matters most — treating tanned skin is the commonest cause of an IPL burn.
Hair removal
2 weeks before
No waxing, threading or hair removal cream. For hair reduction, do not pluck — the target has to stay in the follicle. Shaving is fine.
Actives and clean skin
3 to 5 days before
Stop retinoids and exfoliating acids. Arrive with clean skin, no makeup, sunscreen or moisturizer.
At the visit
Be direct about your skin tone and how easily you tan. A good provider will ask, and will decline if IPL is wrong for your skin.

What Happens

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ArrivingThe treatmentLeaving
Arriving
Skin is cleaned and examined, and the provider checks your skin tone and recent sun. Settings and filters are chosen for your skin and the target, and photographs are usually taken. Numbing is rarely needed: cold gel and a chilled tip do the work. Your provider will ask about these things.
The treatment
Opaque goggles go over your eyes and stay on; that is not optional. The handpiece is pressed on the skin and fired in overlapping shots. You see a bright flash through closed eyelids. Each pulse feels like a hot rubber band snap, hottest over brown spots and hair, and stops as it ends. A full face takes about 20 minutes.
Leaving
Skin looks pink and feels warm, like mild sunburn. Brown spots often darken straight away, and mild swelling is normal for a day. Cool packs help, and most people go straight back to their day.

Recovery

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Days 1 to 2Days 3 to 14Weeks 2 to 6
Days 1 to 2
Redness fades. Slight swelling around individual spots is common, especially around the eyes. Makeup is fine once the skin is no longer hot.
Days 3 to 14
Treated spots darken into fine brown flecks like coffee grounds, then flake away, leaving more even skin. Do not scrub, pick or exfoliate them. On the neck, chest and hands it takes longer, up to 3 weeks.
Weeks 2 to 6
Vessels and background redness clear gradually, and keep improving over later sessions.

Aftercare

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24 hours5 to 7 days4 weeks
Makeup and exercise
24 hours
Makeup the next day once skin is no longer hot, without rubbing off the darkened spots. No exercise for 24 hours; heat worsens redness.
Actives
5 to 7 days
No retinoids or exfoliating acids for 5 to 7 days, and none while spots are flaking.
Sun
4 weeks
Strict avoidance and SPF 30 or higher daily for at least 4 weeks. Sun on treated skin is the main cause of dark patches afterward.
Do not exfoliate the spots off
The flecks have to shed on their own. Scrubbing leaves lasting marks.

Risks

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Redness for a few hours, mild swelling, and darkened spots that flake off are expected. The serious risks are burns and permanent color change, and they cluster predictably: deeper skin tones, tanned skin, settings too high, and eyes not properly shielded.

Dark patches
New brown patches in the weeks afterward, usually after sun. Treated early, they clear.
Blistering or a burn
Blisters, or a defined square mark matching the handpiece, mean the energy was too high. See someone promptly, because burns can scar.
Loss of skin color
Pale or white patches where treatment was given. This is the least reversible outcome of IPL. Raise it straight away.
Melasma getting worse
Brown patches on the cheeks, forehead or upper lip spreading or darkening afterward. IPL is a recognized trigger, and more sessions make it worse.
A cold sore outbreak
The heat can set one off. Antiviral medicine works best started at the first tingle.
Hair loss where you did not want it
IPL reduces hair as a side effect, and around the eyebrows, beard area and hairline that can be lasting.

In Deeper Skin Tones

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IPL is not safe on deeper skin tones, and that is the most important thing on this page.

IPL is broadband light with no way to tell the pigment it aims at from the pigment that gives skin its color. In deeper skin tones, melanin throughout the outer layer absorbs a large share of the energy. That heat lands in the wrong place, and the result is burns, blisters and color changes that can be permanent.

The two outcomes look opposite and are both serious. Hyperpigmentation is dark patches where treatment was given, appearing over the following weeks. Hypopigmentation is pale or white patches where pigment-producing cells have been destroyed. Dark patches usually fade with treatment; pale patches often do not, and there is no reliable way to restore lost pigment. A treatment chosen for the look of your skin can leave a permanent mark shaped like the device window.

This is not theoretical. Burns and pigment change on deeper skin tones are a well-recognized injury from light-based devices, which is why safer alternatives exist and should be used instead.

Tanned skin carries the same risk whatever your usual skin tone, so any recent sun or self-tanner means postponing.

Home IPL hair removal devices have the same limitation. The skin tone chart in the box exists because the manufacturer knows the technology injures skin with more pigment; most are labeled unsuitable for deeper skin tones and tanned skin, and many have a sensor that refuses to fire. Using one anyway risks burns and lasting pale or dark patches, with nobody present to catch an injury early.

If you have a deeper skin tone and want what IPL treats, there are options. For brown patches, prescription creams, azelaic acid and carefully performed superficial chemical peels. For redness, oral and topical rosacea treatments, and certain vascular lasers at adjusted settings by someone experienced. For hair, the 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser, whose longer wavelength passes through surface pigment rather than being absorbed by it. Ask for these by name.

If You Stop

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There is nothing to taper, no rebound, and you can stop a course at any point.

Whatever cleared stays cleared for a while. Sun spots that flaked away do not come back, but new ones form with more sun, so people who stop protecting their skin see spots return over a year or two. Rosacea keeps making new vessels, so redness creeps back over months to a couple of years, faster if triggers are not managed.

Hair reduction reverses more visibly. Hair returns over months once sessions stop, usually finer and lighter than before.

One situation calls for stopping promptly. If brown patches are darkening or spreading after a session, more IPL will make it worse. Stop, and go back to the provider to work out whether what is being treated is melasma.

Combining Treatments

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Same day
Sunscreen
Not optional; sun raises the risk of dark patches.
Same day
Pigment creams
Azelaic acid and prescription options work between sessions.
Same day
Rosacea treatment
Topical and oral medicines continue; IPL does not replace them.
Pause 5 days
Topical retinoid
Paused about five days either side of a session.
Wait 2 weeks
Other procedures
Wait about 2 weeks around a peel, microneedling, waxing or another device.
Wait 2 weeks
Flaking skin
Do not treat skin still flaking from something else.
Wait 3–4 weeks
Between sessions
Space sessions 3 to 4 weeks apart, longer on the neck and chest.
Wait 1–2 weeks
Botulinum toxin and filler
Usually a separate visit, a week or two apart.
Different visit
Fractional laser
For texture, scars and lines, its own visit.
Ask your doctor
Isotretinoin
The old advice was six months; that judgment belongs to the person treating you.

Insurance Coverage

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Insurance does not cover cosmetic pigment or redness treatment. Rosacea claims are occasionally submitted and rarely paid. IPL by an eye doctor for a type of dry eye is billed differently, and coverage varies.

Ask Your Doctor

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If you have a deeper skin tone
IPL is not recommended for you. Ask about prescription pigment creams, superficial peels, and for hair, a 1064 nm Nd:YAG.
If you have been in the sun recently
Including a sunbed or self-tanner in the last month. Treating tanned skin is the commonest cause of an IPL burn. Expect to be rescheduled.
If you have melasma
Or brown patches you are unsure about. Get a diagnosis first, because IPL commonly makes melasma worse.
If you are pregnant or breastfeeding
Ask the doctor managing your pregnancy or breastfeeding. Most providers postpone elective treatment.
If you take a sun-sensitizing medicine
Doxycycline, some diuretics, some acne treatments and St John's wort all make skin react more. List everything you take.
If you get cold sores
Say so even if it has been years. An antiviral tablet beforehand is standard.
If you have taken isotretinoin recently
Say when you finished, because it may change the timing.
If you have had a keloid scar
Or any thickened scar. Raise it first.
If you are treated near hair
The eyebrows, beard area or hairline. IPL reduces hair lastingly, so protect what you want to keep.
If you have epilepsy
Or sensitivity to flashing light. The device fires repeated bright flashes.
If you have a tattoo in the area
Including permanent makeup. Light on ink causes burns and ink changes, so it must be shielded.
If your main concern is wrinkles
Or scars and texture. Wrong treatment.

At-Home Versions

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Daily broad-spectrum sunscreen
Good alternative
The single most useful thing at home for both sun spots and facial redness. Without it, spots keep forming and a course of IPL is being undone as it goes.
Five azelaic acid tubes and bottles on white, most marked 10 percent, from Peach Slices, Paula's Choice, Facetheory, The Ordinary and Naturium
Azelaic acid, vitamin C, or niacinamide
Okay alternative
Fade brown patches gradually and calm redness. Slower than IPL and safe across all skin tones, including where IPL is not appropriate.
Prescription pigment creams
Good alternative
The mainstay for melasma and stubborn pigment, and used before and after in-office treatment. These are supervised treatments rather than something to buy online.
Home IPL hair removal devices
Okay alternative
Lower powered than a clinic device and cheaper over time. The skin tone chart in the box is a safety limit, not a suggestion. They are not suitable for deeper skin tones or tanned skin, they carry a real risk of burns and lasting pale or dark patches, and they must never be used near the eyes or over tattoos or moles.
Home "photofacial" or LED red light masks
Okay alternative
LED masks use low-level light and do not produce the heat that clears sun spots or vessels. They are not a home version of IPL, and they are safe in a way IPL is not, because they do almost nothing to pigment.
Green-tinted color-correcting makeup
Bad alternative
Cancels out redness visually. Worth mentioning because for many people it does more, more cheaply, than any device.

How It Compares

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Q-switched or picosecond laser for pigment
Better
Aimed precisely at brown spots rather than at everything colored in its path, so individual stubborn spots often clear better. Costs more per spot, and can still cause pigment changes.
Pulsed dye laser for redness
Better
The established treatment for facial redness and visible vessels, and generally more effective than IPL for larger single vessels. It can leave temporary bruising, and it costs more.
Nd
Better
YAG laser at 1064 nm: Strong evidence, and this is the important alternative for deeper skin tones. Its longer wavelength passes through surface pigment rather than being absorbed by it, which is why it is the standard choice for hair removal and for some vascular work in deeper skin tones.
Superficial chemical peel
Better
Much cheaper and widely available, safe across skin tones at superficial depth, and it does nothing for redness or vessels.
Prescription pigment creams
Different job
Slower, cheaper, work on melasma where IPL usually makes things worse, and safe across skin tones. Often the better first step for brown patches.
Fractional laser resurfacing
Different job
Treats texture, scars, and lines, which IPL does not touch at all, at the cost of about a week of downtime per session and considerably more money.
Topical and oral rosacea treatments
Different job
Manage the bumps, the flushing, and the underlying condition, which IPL does not. Redness treatment usually works best as both together rather than either alone.

Finding a Provider

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Who may operate an IPL device varies widely by state, often with looser requirements than for lasers despite comparable injury risk. A person chooses the settings, not the machine, so the operator's judgment is the main safety feature.

The most useful thing a consultation does is assess your skin tone and tell you if IPL is wrong for you. A provider who treats every skin tone with the same settings is the clearest warning sign there is.

Useful questions: which device and filter, what your skin type is on the scale they use, what settings they chose and why, whether they will do a test spot at the hairline first, and what they would do about a burn or a pale patch.

Red flags: no discussion of skin tone or recent sun. No test spot on a first treatment. IPL offered for melasma without a diagnosis. Goggles treated as optional. A promise of permanent hair removal. A package sold before one session has shown how your skin responds.

Myths

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  • "IPL is a laser." It is not It is broadband light from a flashlamp, not one wavelength aimed at a target, so it treats several things at once and is less precise. Most of its risks come from that.
  • "It is safe for everyone because it is gentle." It is not safe on deeper skin tones or tanned skin. Burns and permanent light or dark patches are why.
  • "Home IPL devices are safe for all skin tones because they are weaker." They are not. The chart in the box exists because the technology injures skin with more pigment, and most are labeled unsuitable for deeper skin tones and tanned skin.
  • "It will fix my melasma." IPL is a common way for melasma to get worse: better briefly, then darker and wider. Melasma needs a different approach.
  • "It treats wrinkles and pores." Color only. Wrinkles, texture, pores and indented scars need something else.
  • "The spots getting darker means it went wrong." That is what is meant to happen. Treated spots darken into fine brown flecks for a week, then flake off.
  • "One session and I am done." Brown spots sometimes clear in one or two sessions, but redness needs a course, and both return without maintenance and sunscreen.

Questions Patients Ask

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Is IPL safe for deeper skin tones?

No. Broadband light is absorbed by all the pigment in its path, including the pigment that gives skin its color. On deeper skin tones that means burns and light or dark patches, and pale patches can be permanent. For pigment, ask about prescription creams and superficial peels. For hair, a 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser.

Can I use a home IPL hair removal device on deeper skin tones?

No. The skin tone chart supplied with home devices exists because the technology injures skin with more pigment, and most are labeled unsuitable for deeper skin tones and tanned skin. Many refuse to fire. The risk is the same as a clinic device, with nobody present to spot a problem early.

Does IPL help melasma?

Usually not, and it commonly makes melasma worse: better for a few weeks, then darker and wider. If you have brown patches on the cheeks, forehead or upper lip, get a diagnosis before any light-based treatment.

Why do my spots look darker afterward?

That is what is meant to happen. Treated sun spots darken into fine brown flecks over the first few days, then flake off over one to two weeks. Do not scrub or pick.

How many sessions will I need?

Usually three to five for the face, three to four weeks apart, then maintenance once or twice a year. Brown spots improve faster than redness. Hair reduction takes six to ten or more.

Does IPL work on wrinkles or acne scars?

No. IPL works on color: brown pigment and red vessels. Wrinkles, texture, pores and indented scars need a fractional laser or microneedling.

References

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