Intense Pulsed Light (IPL)

After my allergic reaction to roaccutane and suffering for 5years gradually getting worse, I decided to give this a go as a last resort. I first met the at the clinic to discuss the procedure and the effectiveness and was told it would clear the acne and reduce scaring over 8-10 weeks. also that i had to purchase £100 worth of creams. which I felt was a bit of a scam to be honest. considering the treatment was a £1000. The treatment was uncomfortable, slightly painful at times. I found no benefits at all, if anything It aged my skin considerably and the cost was horrendous. I then tried another form of roaccutane 10 months later and that had stopped my acne for 6 months completely. now 10 months on i get the odd couple here and there. save your money!!!

I'm pretty sure this started my acne. It's that simple. I never had acne as a teenager - just the odd spot. But being dark-haired, I have had hirsutism since my teens (male-pattern hair growth in a woman). I don't look like a man, and most people probably don't notice, but I have tried (and continue to try) many things to manage it over the years, and IPL was one of them. I'm 34 now, and started IPL treatment when I was 28, in the spring of 2006. By the autumn, I had moderate acne - big, sore, swollen bumps along my jawline and on my cheeks (areas I hadn't had spots before). I did say to the woman who did my treatment that I seemed to have developed acne while having the treatment, and asked if the two could be related. She insisted not, and that the acne would most likely be hormonal; at the time, I went along with it. But now, when I look back, I can't think of anything else that could have caused it. I had hormone tests at the time, which came back normal, and although some people said it was having my son that started it, he was two before my acne appeared and I'd long finished breast-feeding. So however good IPL might be for treating some people's acne, I can honestly say that I think it actually started mine. I continued with the treatment for my hirsutism even after the acne appeared, and the spots didn't get any better. I wouldn't recommend this product to anyone wanting to treat their acne. I wonder if the intense heat drastically dries out the skin, leading to the compensatory over-production of oils to re-moisturise it; this certainly seems to be where my skin has defaulted to for the last six years.

Waste of money. Didn't help my acne or scars at all. I got only two treatments of this and the doctor decided to try something else because he wasn't seeing the results he wanted.

I spent around $500, if not more and it made my skin worse, red marked, blothcy, the large pores on my nose seem bigger and uglier... I would not recommend!