Home intense pulsed light (IPL) device is a useful tool to decrease hair burden in pilonidal patients - a case series

Patients with pilonidal disease (PD) often receive laser epilation to reduce hair burden at the gluteal cleft to decrease symptom recurrence. Laser epilation sessions can be burdensome for patients who need to travel long distance to clinic or are away from home for extended periods of time. In this informal case series, we describe four PD patients who manage epilation with intense pulsed light (IPL) devices at home.

Four PD patients were referred to our Pilonidal Care Clinic and underwent surgical excision. They were all started on regular laser epilation in the clinic. Due to the long travel distance to the clinic, temporary relocating elsewhere, or ease of treatment, they switched to using home IPL for long-term epilation. They reported no injury associated with the IPL use and no recurrence of PD after a follow-up period between 1-3 years.

Recurrence of PD symptoms has been shown to decrease with regular laser epilation. However, there is considerable burden in frequent traveling to the clinic to receive laser therapy. Our cases demonstrate that home IPL can be safely used to decrease hair burden in PD and minimize future PD recurrence.

IPL devices can serve as an effective and convenient option for epilation at home to prevent PD recurrence.