Lynton IPL · MorpethIPL Treatment in Morpeth, Northumberland

What IPL actually is

IPL is not a laser. A laser emits a single wavelength; IPL emits a broad spectrum of light and filters it down to the band needed for the target. That flexibility is the point — the same handpiece can be filtered to target the red of a blood vessel, the brown of a sun spot, or the bacteria involved in acne, by changing the filter and the settings rather than the machine.

It is also why IPL in the wrong hands goes badly. The settings have to match your skin as well as the target, and that is a clinical judgement, not a menu choice.

The four things we use it for

• Pigmentation and sun damage — the light is absorbed by melanin in the spot, which darkens, lifts and flakes away over one to two weeks. See pigmentation treatment.
• Redness and rosacea — absorbed by haemoglobin, collapsing the small dilated vessels that cause persistent flushing. See rosacea treatment.
• Thread veins — the same mechanism on individual visible vessels. See thread vein removal.
• Active acne — targets C. acnes bacteria and calms the inflammatory response. See acne treatment.

Why Lynton

Lynton is British-built, medical-grade and used across the NHS. That matters more for IPL than for almost anything else we do, because the cheap end of the IPL market is where most of the burns and the pigmentation injuries come from. Rebecca, an aesthetics nurse, runs all IPL here.

Patch test, always

A patch test at least twenty-four hours before the first session is mandatory and not negotiable. It establishes safe parameters for your skin rather than assuming them. If you have been in the sun or used a sunbed or fake tan recently, we will postpone — treating tanned skin with IPL is how people get burned.

How many sessions

Pigmentation often responds in one to three. Rosacea and redness usually take three, which is why the course price exists. Acne runs to six. We will give you a realistic number at consultation rather than an optimistic one.

What it feels like and afterwards

A hot elastic-band snap with each pulse, over in seconds per shot. Afterwards expect redness for a few hours, and with pigmentation the treated spots go darker before they flake away — that is the treatment working, not a reaction. Daily SPF is compulsory for the whole course and no sunbeds at all.

Illumifacial

Lynton's Illumifacial combines IPL with a skin peel in one protocol, and Rebecca is trained in it. It is not currently on the online booking system, so call the clinic on 01670 641601 if that is what you are after.

From the journal

• IPL or laser for pigmentation?
• Rosacea, or just red cheeks?

All articles