What is IPL and Laser Support?

This is both easy and difficult to explain. The obvious is easy, supporting others in need. It is explaining who these others are and what caused their need for support that is more difficult.

Okay, let's start with what caused the need for support.

First, I will attempt to answer "What is IPL?" IPL is intense pulsed light-easy enough. IPL is a cosmetic procedure used for a variety of skin conditions, hopefully administered by medical professionals, but often administered by technicians/estheticians who are not medically licensed.

Some of the skin conditions which IPL is used to treat are rosacea, wrinkles, hair removal, uneven skin tone, melasma and broken capillaries to name just a few. It has been in use for just a little under 20 years in clinical applications. The first cosmetic application approval for IPL by the FDA was for "permanent hair removal" in 1997. IPL technology has evolved since that time. Later iterations of IPL devices have been approved by the FDA for treatment of other skin conditions as noted.

If you would like to read more about IPL, I found one website that is a state government site which has some information on IPL and Lasers. Here is the link:

http://www.medicalboard.iowa.gov/Lasers.html

The website above is one of the few that I found that was not affiliated with an IPL manufacturer or IPL practitioner. There is little, if any, formal medical information on IPL and many other cosmetic devices that is not connected in some way with a manufacturer or provider who uses IPL and/or lasers. Please keep that in mind when reading any "official' or descriptive information posted on this blog or elsewhere regarding IPL and lasers.

Here is another found on an a .edu website, although it seems to have been supplied by a manufacturer or distributer of lasers:

http://tinyurl.com/ag6n4p

Okay, now that we know what IPL is, let's talk about lasers. Lasers are, well, lasers. They are used to resurface the skin. They are used also for a variety of cosmetic purposes having to do with the skin--similar to IPL.

I am a fan of this website, so I will post Dr. T's take on lasers:

http://www.smartskincare.com/treatments/invasive/ablativelaserresurfacing.html

I need to dig a little and find out how many cosmetic laser devices there are now. My slightly educated guess is that around 4-5 new lasers have been released each year for the last five years. I will err on the low side with that guess.

There are ablative lasers (Co2 or Erbium for instance) and non-ablative lasers (KTP or fractional--minimally invasive, for instance).

The definition of ablate:

wear away through erosion or vaporization; to remove or decrease something by the process of ablation; to undergo ablation

Not so pretty sounding and not so pretty looking when it first happens either. I have personally had ablative laser. It was not pretty for a long, long time (almost six months). My skin was literally vaporized with an erbium (ablative) laser. My final results were better than many but not what I hoped. The after effects still linger, two years later.

The last cosmetic device I will mention is radio frequency (RF). Anyone remember first generation RF? Read here from a few years ago what was experienced by this group:

http://www.makemeheal.com/forum/viewThread.jsp?forum=24&thread=6122


There you have it: IPL, laser (both ablative and non-ablative), and radio frequency (RF) damage all comprise what caused our need for support.

Now I will try to describe the "who" in "needs support" and why support is needed.

People who've been damaged by any of these devices comprise the who. But, why do they need support? As in most cosmetic procedures, having one/many procedures is a choice and not something that anyone is forced to do. By virtue of that fact, when something goes wrong the person who made that choice begins blaming themselves for that bad choice. Now, having something go wrong with the procedure is of course not their fault, but the choosing it part is what causes so much angst for those of us harmed by cosmetic procedures, especially IPL, lasers, and RF. We often feel that if we had thought about it longer, researched it more, just been happy with the way we were that this bad thing would not have happened to us. All of that may be true to a degree, but regardless of that fact, we are in pain.

Some people have been damaged beyond repair. I know of young lady who threatened suicide after she said her face was ruined forever by Co2 laser resurfacing. She was an attorney who said she had lost her job, boyfriend, and her friends. She said she could not be consoled by her family and she was wearing them out with her emotional pain. She went away (she had been posting on an Internet plastic surgery board off and on for many months) after her threat and she never posted again. Did she, didn't she harm herself? That won't likely ever be known for sure. I pray that she did not, but there's not much way of knowing for sure out here in cyberspace.

For many IPL/laser victims, families are supportive of the emotional pain that IPL/laser victims experience. But we know our families can't really understand what we are going through and besides we took money out of family funds to do this to ourselves, we don't always feel like we deserve a great deal of their sympathy.

The need to have someone else totally understand has driven many to seek out the support of others on the Internet who are like them. It is human nature to seek out those like yourself. Only when someone else has experienced what you've experienced can you feel like you are truly understood by someone. None of us wanted to find others like us, but by instinct we sought each other out. It was not so terribly difficult to find others who've been damaged by IPL or lasers. It was actually quite easy. Now begins the story of how, when, where and why....

I have frequented a well known plastic surgery message board for over 3 years for various reasons. One of the reasons I visited the board was the unhappy outcome I had from my own laser resurfacing. In the course of visiting the board over several months, I kept reading about IPL and fat loss. I had heard the rumors from several years ago that claimed RF could cause fat loss and sagging skin, but I was not familiar with IPL causing fat loss . I kept watching and reading the board for several months monitoring posts on this subject. A pattern developed. More people were posting of their skin changing, dents appearing, scarring, and fat loss after having IPL procedures performed, some even claimed having fat loss from certain types of pulsed dye devices. My ears perked as I've had pulsed-dye myself, but an older version of pulsed dye, by a very capable doctor. I had no ill effects, but I do not discount others who've not been so lucky.

I eventually posted a poll entitled "IPL and Fat Loss" on the message board. It was extremely popular and went to several pages and was eventually locked due to size. You can read the stories here:

http://messageboards.makemeheal.com/viewtopic.php?t=68784

The stories were/are heartbreaking as you might have read at the link above. None of the "victims" could/can get a doctor to take them seriously or believe their fat loss was/is from IPL. Many were/are at their wit's end, pockets empty from trying to restore their faces. Many of these people are heartbroken, despondent, and continuously blaming themselves but angry that no one will listen to their stories and take them seriously.

Thus a support board for the IPL victims and for those damaged by cosmetic laser procedures was born last October (2008):

(edited to add Daily Strength board no longer exists but has moved)

Please visit the IPL and Laser Damage Support Board at:

http://iplandlaserdamagesupport.prophpbb.com/

I hope this blog will inform. I hope others who've have been damaged by IPL or lasers will join the support group. I hope others who are considering any of these procedures will think long and hard before proceeding. But most of all, I hope that someone in authority, a doctor, scientist, or someone will take up this cause and believe that fat loss from IPL can and does happen, Our fervent hope is to protect others from suffering this same fate.

Thank you for reading!