The cosmetic enhancement product and service market of today boasts an exhausting variety of surgical and non-surgical methods of reducing and reversing the effects of aging. The telltale signs of sun damage, lifestyle hazards and the natural passage of years all manifest themselves prominently on a person’s skin, spurring the medical profession forward to invent all sorts of scalpel-assisted skin rejuvenation techniques, such as face lifts, and dermal filler products, such as the many hyaluronic acid-based formulas that may be purchased. Even a lethal toxin, one of the deadliest known to man, has now been converted into a purified form that women and men everywhere swear makes years vanish instantly off their faces. It should come as no surprise, then, that one of the most advanced techniques now available to patients is the use of flashes of light to stimulate the skin, allowing one’s body to restore itself to youthfulness. This procedure is commonly known as a photofacial, a revolutionary method that is used to treat a swath of skin conditions, from sun damage to fine scarring.

A photo facial is conducted using intense pulse light technology, where a series of gentle pulses of a special type of non-laser light are flashed onto the face over about five treatments, within a period of three weeks. The light itself is generated by a handheld device that is passed over the skin slowly as the pulses are emitted, until the entire affected area has been treated. The light is focused to emit many different wavelengths, so that it penetrates different levels of the skin simultaneously, allowing it to affect dilated blood vessels and glands regardless of their position. This is unlike laser light, which is a concentrated beam of a single wavelength, and as such either does not go deep into the skin or can only affect one layer at any given time. The pulses of light stimulate the skin’s production of collagen, which inflates it and brings back the smoothness and suppleness that one associates with young skin.

Photo facials are used for a myriad of conditions, most commonly those associated with prolonged exposure to sunlight, such as pigment discoloration, chronic skin reddening and enlarged pores. Fine scars and shallow wrinkles also respond positively to the treatment, as do liver spots, broken capillaries under the skin surface, and skin that has acquired a dull pallor.

The procedure itself is not unbearably painful, and is in fact only mildly uncomfortable, giving the impression that one has snapped a rubber band on the patient’s skin. No anesthesia will be necessary. Each treatment session lasts between 15 to 30 minutes, and the patient can resume normal activity afterwards. A patient may experience mild side effects after being treated, including slight bruising or blistering, but these are very rare, occurring only in about one percent of patients who undergo a photo facial. The face may swell for a few days, in cases where the skin is substantially damaged by the sun, as the connective tissues surrounding the blood cells in the skin have deteriorated.

In spite of its safety, there are a number of people for whom a photo facial is not recommended. Patients with auto-immune disorders or recurrent skin conditions, those who have recently gotten a sun tan or who expect to be exposed heavily to the sun after the treatment, or patients with active cysts or pustules, will all be advised against treatment in this manner. Pregnant women should also stay away from this procedure. A responsible cosmetic surgeon should be able to make a professional assessment of the benefits you stand to gain from a photo facial, what you can expect, and whether or not to go through with the treatment.