Background And Objective:

To evaluate the effects on disruption of hair growth of the non-coherent filtered flashlamp intense pulsed light (IPL) source.

Materials And Methods:

Twenty-eight sites on 23 patients with Fitzpatrick type I-III were enrolled using a single treatment IPL followed for three months post-treatment. Another 56 on 48 patients with Fitzpatrick skin types I-V randomly enrolled for two treatments one month apart and followed for six months.

Study Design:

Prior to beginning treatment and at each follow-up visit hair counts were obtained by averaging three 1-cm2 areas on a clear acetate template placed over the skin. Repeat hair counts and photographs were obtained at 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks for the single treatment protocol and at additional 4, 5, and 6 months for the double treatment protocol. Parameters utilized were a 2.8-3.2 millisecond pulse duration typically for three pulses with thermal relaxation intervals of 20-30 milliseconds with a total fluence of 40-42 J/cm2.

Results:

For the double treatment protocol hair clearance of 64% was achieved immediately following the second treatment. By week 8 reduction of hair counts was 42%. At 6 months, hair counts were reduced by 33%.

Conclusions:

Non-coherent IPL is an effective modality for long-term hair removal. IPL is safe with minimal side effects of epidermal injury or pigmentation change.