Hi, I am a physician. I am looking for advice re an IPL Device. I have researched it and have narrowed it down to Sciton BBL, Starlux or Syneron elos. I know Palomar is expensive but I find the comments re safety and comfort compelling - if you can believe them. I probably want a modular system for upgradability.

Is the thermocouple cooling as effective as the direct cooling?

Would anyone who has comparative experience with any or all of these systems kindly comment. Also as I am in Canada is any company particularly better or worse up here for support/service etc.

Your advice would be appreciated

David

BBL is THE BEST!!Read all the posts here between the three of them.The BBL is the most low-cost(with no-comsumables) effective IPL of the market,far away of the others.

David,

Throw the idea of Syneron out the door. The other 2 systems are competitive with each other. I do not own the Starlux but have had it in my office for a few trials. The cost of ownership will be higher with the Palomar. I also hated having to remove the hand piece and change them out. With the Sciton you only have to change out the filter which takes about 10 seconds. I have many patients that I will use more than 1 filter on at a visit. I did not like the limitations of the Starlux.

As a plastic surgeon, you will want the Sciton. You have a lot more options for upgrading the unit. They have the erbium which is tunable and also the fractioal erbium.

I can not speak for any of the service issues in Canada as I am in the US. Charry posted above and she lives in Greece and I do not think she has had too much for service problems but she will have to fill you in on that.

LH and Charry,

Thank you for the advice. I have read many of you previous comments and enjoy your directness. Is there any real world difference between the Starlux 'smooth pulse' and the multi pulse in the BBL? Does the cooling work ok with the bbl?

PS, Regretably I am not a plastic surgeon just a GP with aspirations beyond his budget :-/

David

David,

The cooling works very well and I like the fact I have a lot of control with the Sciton System. I am a little frustrated with the cooling when you are doing large surface areas such as a mans back. I like to set the cooling at about 8 degrees but the machine will slow down a little after a while.

I have been talking to them about improving the cooling for the unit itself. The system will not fire a pulse unless the temperature is what it is set at.

The BBL is much more user friendly.

LH

LH

Try working at 10 d with the BBL for type IV patients and at 10-11 d for type III.Maybe it will not slow down.There is no much difference in the result of cooling the epidermis.

YG:sorry...I am a man...

Charry,

Thanks, I have been a little more worried about the cooling as I have pushed the fluence.

LH

LH

I have used high settings up to 15 J/cm2 ,10msec for type III patients with 640nm filter with cooling at 10-11 d with no much irritation.

When choosing an IPL, be aware that Palomar charges a $30K fee to warranty an IPL that has been purchased other than through them. That policy was implemented after I bought my Starlux. Therefore, the value dropped. I haven't found the customer service to be particularly good either. Just my opinion.