We have several laser systems at our clinic that have given us consistently good results in all areas....except pigmented lesions. Am now kicking around the idea of getting an IPL to round out our arsenal. Would like to hear from anyone who has opinions that may help guide me with selecting a good device. We don't need anything with a lot of bells and whistles as I pretty much just want to be able to target pigment effectively. I am having so much fun anticipating renewing our service contracts on our existing lasers next year...so would like to make an economically sound choice.

Sherlock: Just search the site for IPL; The big players are Palomar, Sciton, and Lumenis. It helps to Demo to see which you like best and , of course, all manufacturers have different "levels" of options and filters (and many are available used). I opted for a Sciton after my demos. In any case I think its ideal to choose a model w/ contact chilling to protect the epidermis.

I agree, after many demo's I went with Palomar. Sciton has good equipment but I liked the idea of switching heads to optimize my wavelength choice. Palomar Ys and V have been great for pigment

Hello,

Palomar, Sciton and Lumenis are indeed the big players in this market but also very expensive! Who are the big players one level down?

Stefan: What treatments are you planning to offer? What is your budget for equipment? Where are you located?

Stefan,

Remember you get what you pay for. Make sure to look at future costs. If you plan to grow in this industry do not go cheap. If you are just going to be a run of the mill "medspa" then it is Ok to go cheaper.

Med spa guy and LH, I'm planning to offer the following treatments : skin rejuvenation and skinstructure improvement, cellulite, hair removal...

I'm located in Belgium....

Stefan

If you find a good cellulite treatment that we can use in the US let us know. Tha garbage being sold over here is way to expensive for what it does.

Personally, I am going to tell you to take a good look at the Sciton. I love my erbium and continue to advance to deeper peels all the time. Buy equipment that will let you advance as you feel comfortable.

Round one....tried a Novalis Clareon IPL. Great improvement of melasma on one pt. Medium results on two others with significant sun damage. Hit/miss with pigment on a few others. Appreciate the input and will continue to demo some more options.

LH,
I see above that you mentioned cellulite weapons. My esthetician dumped a recent copy of Aesthetic Trends on my desk. I happily took it to the hockey rink as reading material while watching my kid get run through drills. Apart from trying to hide the nearly nude pics of women in ads from other parents/kids in the observation area, I concentrated on all the propaganda written about these devices. Intriguing. I am not a fan of Thermage from what I have seen. Avoid these other devices as well???

I am in the same situation as sherlockmd except that we already have 2 offices and have a 532 Aura that needs a lamp replaced, $16,000 just for lamp. We only used this laser for "brown spots" and are thinking we will come out better getting an IPL. From all the comments it sounds like there is not a reasonably priced IPL that can do the job??? Are lasers better for brown spots?

Ladeda, Stefan and Sherlockmd: If you furnish an e-mail address I can send you a collection of articles on the subject.

Sherlockmd, take into consideration the manufacturer, model, year produced and wavelengths generated. These are important details when judging the safety and efficacy of any light-based device. Hope that helps.