If you’re on the market for a treatment that helps reduce facial spots, enhances your skin texture, and improves signs of aging like fine lines and wrinkles, you’ve surely come across IPL and BBL treatments. Not sure which one to choose? Read on for more details on both treatments.

What Is IPL?

An IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) photofacial is an FDA-approved treatment that addresses several facial skin concerns including dilated blood vessels (aka spider veins), vascular lesions, pigmented lesions, and unwanted hair. It’s also useful for facial rejuvenation and works well to reduce sun and age spots, freckles, and uneven pigmentation, enhance skin texture, and decrease redness from rosacea or acne, and promote collagen production to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. 

The IPL device penetrates all levels of the skin with light energy. The treatment is typically performed on the face, neck, chest, hands, and legs. IPL is relatively safe and more affordable than laser treatments while targeting the same concerns. It also requires no downtime. For best results, you may need several procedures, spaced three to four weeks apart.

Lumecca is considered to be the best device that uses intense pulsed light (IPL) for skin rejuvenation. Manufactured by InMode, it targets age spots; sun damage; pigmentation issues (vascular lesions, port-wine stains, spider veins, freckles) and pigmented lesions; and rosacea. 

It can be used on several areas of the body, with the most common areas of treatment being the face, neck, décolletage, and hands. 

Most people see an improved skin appearance after their first session, and studies by the manufacturer show that it can deliver optimal results after only two treatments.

Treatments can be done in as little as 30 minutes.  Because Lumecca’s IPL technology doesn’t injure the surface of the skin, there’s no downtime. You should need only two photofacial sessions for significant improvements, though visible results may be noticeable even after a single treatment. 

What Is BroadBand Light (BBL)?

Similar to IPL, BroadBand Light (BBL) treats various skin concerns like age and sun spots, acne, rosacea, fine lines and wrinkles, and uneven texture with the use of high-intensity light to heat up the skin.

The technology is FDA-cleared and is most often used on the face, neck, chest, hands, and legs to rejuvenate the skin. Generally, a series of three to four sessions spaced two to four weeks apart may be required for optimal results. The treatment is painless and quick with minimal downtime. 

IPL vs. BBL

Both treatments are non-invasive and target the same areas. Neither requires long downtime but may need several sessions for optimal results.