Hair removal using intense pulsed light (EpiLight): patient satisfaction, our experience, and literature review

Applications for intense pulsed light (IPL) for hair removal are gaining favor among other methods, including lasers, because of its noninvasive nature, versatility regarding different skin and hair types, safety, and ease of use. Hair removal using IPL was performed from January 2002 to December 2003 on 108 consecutive patients. Eighty of these patients answered a questionnaire and were enrolled in the study group. The investigated parameters were hair and skin type, number of pulses, fluence, pulse duration, pulse delay, the filters used, and the treated area. The patient assessment of improvement (satisfaction) rate was graded from 1 to 5 points: 1, worse; 2, no improvement; 3, mild improvement; 4, good result; and 5, excellent result. The patients had between 1 and 13 treatments most of them during 2 to 6 sessions. Sixty-seven percent of the patients reported no complications. Prolonged erythema for more than 7 days was reported by 16.25%, blisters by 6.25%, temporary hyperpigmentation by 8.75%, leukotrichia was present in 1 case, and 1 case of persistent hypopigmentation was noted in a young girl. An increased number of complications and a decreased satisfaction rate were noted with higher skin types, but it was not statistically significant. Patients who underwent fewer treatments (1-3 treatments) were more satisfied compared with those who had more than 7 treatments (P < 0.02). Sixty percent of the patients rated their satisfaction to be good to excellent and 65% would ill recommend this treatment to their friends. To minimize the complication rate the authors found that the preset parameters should be adjusted at every treatment session according to the skin response at the previous one. Permanent hair removal cannot be guaranteed and it is not possible to predict the improvement rate. Nevertheless, based on patient satisfaction rate in this study, the authors recommend using IPL for hair removal.