I'm having my first IPL tomorrow for sun-spots!

[TheBeagleHasLanded]

Has anyone had this done, I wondered if you could tell me how you found it discomfort-wise, and how happy were you with the results. I'm nervous but excited!

Argh I went today for a patch test and they wouldn't do it as I am breast feeding ! Did come away with some lovely face cream and glycolic peel though, something to play with in the mean time.

It feels like an elastic band snapping on your skin. Also depends on the laser setting. If a beautician is doing it, itll be quite mild and youll need several appointments. If a doctor is doing it tgen itll be much stronger and the patches should break down with one pass. Good luck! Lasers are amazing.

Forgot to add, I found it barable but i only had 15 minutes. Results were great (on spider veins and pigmentation).

I have about four pale sun spots id like to get rid of. How many sessions do you need?

Wow, just got back. Not as bad as I thought it would be, although my skin is stinging a bit now, a bit like sunburn.

Fluffy I've been told between 3 and 5 visits. Today's was at the mild setting as she wants to see how I tolerate this first session. If it's okay and I don't get any side effects then she's happy to do it stronger next time, therefore I would need less sessions.

Will they fade straightaway?

Ooh can you do before and after photos ?? Pleaseeee

I really want mine doing

Not straight away Fluffy. Immediately after they were a bit darker but this was only noticeable to me and the therapist and was easily softened by some mineral makeup. Nobody else would realize. The pigmentation will darken over the next 7 days before beginning to fade away at 10-14 days. I've now got to wait 4 weeks for my second session (the minimum amount of time you can leave between treatments). So when I have the second session, again they'll temporarily darken for about a week before going even lighter, and so on until I've finished the course.

It's just over 4 hours since I had the treatment and the sunburn-stinging sensation has stopped. She did say I may get some mild puffiness tomorrow morning when I wake up from laying flat all night, but this should subside over the course of the day.

pretty not sure about that, I'm a bit shy! I'll keep checking in and giving honest descriptions about what's happening though if that helps.

So when I took the mineral makeup off last night I could really see my pigmentation has darkened a fair amount. I also had some swelling under my eyes and my skin under there felt a bit tight, like when you wash your face and forget to moistirise. I decided to sleep propped up on pillows and have woken up to slightly less puffy under-eyes which I was relieved at.

I'll put some makeup on later, but all in all I don't think anyone would know unless I told them about the treatment. Looking forward to seeing what happens over the next week or so.

When I had laser treatment a couple of years ago the therapist had Aloe Vera gel in a fridge which she applied and gave me some to take home to use. I had some swelling but it went away in 48 hours.

So it's 48 hours since my first treatment and the very slight swelling underneath my eyes has gone down completely.

I took my makeup off last night and as I was toning my skin I noticed it was stinging a bit and as I wiped the cotton wool pad away from the stinging area a really large freckle just WIPED AWAY! That freckle has been there all my adult life and now it's just gone, precisely 33 hours after my first treatment. My skin is definitely a bit smoother and a bit more plumped up too.

What do you mean by wiped away though? Are you sure it was a freckles not a mole? A freckle can't wipe off surely, it's in the skin, not on it, like a mole. Or did the wiping action sort of dissolve it and break it up under the skin?

I have had a very noticeable age brown spot like a giant freckle on my cheek for years and I would love to get it zapped.

In fact i just want everything, a chemical peel as well.

It was definitely a large freckle, not a mole.

I put on some cleanser and wiped my face with a damp warm flannel first (a la Caroline Hirons double cleansing thread), then cleansed again and wiped again with the flannel. The flannel was quite rough but I was gentle with it. I then used some toner on a cotton wool pad and it just wiped away, gone!

On the care sheet I was given it says they will flake off. I'm still in shock myself to be honest.

Flake off on the outside?

Well I never. I would have thought that a freckle or a brown spot was in/under the skin's surface rather than on it.

Just been doing some more reading on it and found this excellent explanation:-

Pigment (freckles, sun spots, etc) in the skin absorbs light energy from the IPL which destroys the cells that contain the pigment. These dead skin cells come to the surface of the skin in a period of days or weeks after the treatment and appear much darker than the surrounding skin. As part of the normal process, these darker areas will flake off and be replaced by skin tissue without the pigment.

I had a patch test for this recently but it was so painful that I just couldn't bring myself to go back. I suspect I will eventually though, as I want that lovely, blemish-free skin that so many lucky people seem to have. I've done hard core face peels, Botox etc but want to try this next.

I had this for some horrible dark freckles that I had had for years. Within a few days, they had got darker then crumbled like a chocolate cookie and fell off.

It was very similar to the elastic band 'pings' described by others, but the first thing I thought of was how it feels to be splashed by hot fat from a frying pan. But the feeling is over in a second. It's worse around the nose area but I found it bearable. I was told the setting could be increased next time but I'll decide once I've spoken to the practitioner about how I reacted this time and go from there.

ooh tell me about the hardcore face peels Trucking

I had an Obagi peel. I did it over a period of 3 months rather than one where your face falls off but my face was red and peeling for a loooong time.

But did it hurt and were the results worth it? And are they permanent or are you supposed to do it again in a year or two? If the time spend being red and scaly is as long as the time spent looking fabulous then you have to question if it's worth it!

It didn't hurt at all - it just felt how you'd imagine - dry and tight. My skin is ok but not flawless and even toned. It's expensive ish - about £250 and a time consuming regime.