Intense pulsed light (IPL), or photons, is a wide-spectrum strong light with multiple wavelengths that can act on three target color bases, melanin, hemoglobin, and water, simultaneously to achieve whitening and freckle removal, redness fading, and collagen regeneration, thereby achieving an overall skin rejuvenation effect. However, there are significant differences in the treatment principles and parameter settings between photon whitening and photon freckle removal, and photon technology is difficult to operate. If the parameters are not set properly, it is very easy to cause adverse reactions such as excessive reactions and light spot marks.

Photon freckle removal is mainly used to improve epidermal spots and epidermal-dermal mixed spots, but it is ineffective for dermal spots (such as brown-blue nevus and nevus of Ota). For epidermal spots such as freckles and solar freckles (sun spots), photon has a better effect, and it also has a certain effect on chloasma (epidermal or mixed type) and post-inflammatory pigmentation (epidermal or mixed type), but it is not effective for simple freckles and coffee spots, and pigmented laser treatment is usually given priority.

The principle of photon freckle removal is based on "selective photothermal effect", and the target color base is melanin. When treating freckles, more radical parameters need to be used to quickly heat the melanosomes to denature the melanin, which is then excreted from the body with epidermal renewal metabolism to form microscabs, achieving the effect of freckle removal.

Although picosecond and other short-pulse lasers are the preferred photoelectric treatment for freckles, photon treatment of freckles has its unique advantages: large treatment spot, wide coverage area, fast speed, and better effect on darker freckles.

【Treatment of Freckles】

Photons can be used as the first trial technology for the treatment of freckles, and can be combined with short-pulse picosecond lasers for treatment. The treatment parameters need to comprehensively consider the skin color, spot color, erythema and skin dryness, and mainly use 515nm, 560nm, and 590nm filters. The treatment is divided into two steps:

The first time, the large light-guiding crystal is used for full-face operation

The second time, the small light-guiding crystal is used to strengthen the spots

Although solar lentigo (sun spots) and freckles are both epidermal spots, their formation mechanisms and pathological manifestations are different.

Sun spots are photoaging spots caused by acquired sun exposure, and their underlying layers are often accompanied by blood vessel hyperplasia and dilation. When treating sun spots, photons can act on melanin and hemoglobin at the same time, improving spots and underlying erythema, which is more advantageous than pigmented lasers. The principle of setting photon treatment parameters for sun spots is similar to that for freckles, but it should be noted that sun spots are darker in color and the target color base absorbs more light. The treatment goal is not only to remove spots, but also to solve the problem of blood vessels in the dermis.

【Treatment of sun spots】

When treating sun spots, 560nm and 590nm filters are more suitable. When sealing blood vessels, 590nm filters are preferred. The treatment is divided into two times:

The first time, 590nm (dark skin) or 560nm (fair skin) filters are recommended for whitening:

The second time, small light-guiding crystals are used for treatment on the sunburn area:

After the color of the spots becomes lighter, you can use a 515nm filter. The endpoint reaction of photon treatment of sun spots is the darkening of the color of the spots and mild redness and swelling around them, indicating that the melanin fully absorbs light and denatures, and then forms micro-scabs and is discharged from the body.

Melasma is a photoaging skin disease. Its formation mechanism is different from other pigmentation spots. In addition to increased melanin, it is also accompanied by aging manifestations such as vascular proliferation, dilation and elastic tissue degeneration. Therefore, photon treatment of melasma should take the improvement of photoaging as a strategy and avoid the use of radical parameters that stimulate melanocytes.

【Treatment of Chloasma】

It is recommended to use 590nm and 640nm filters, mainly using hemoglobin and water as target color bases

The energy setting needs to take into account the color of the spots, the degree of erythema and the dryness of the skin. It is recommended to start with 15-16J/cm² for the 590nm filter; 17-18J/cm² for the 640nm filter; through two treatments, the three target color bases of melanin, hemoglobin, and water can reduce redness, improve skin aging, and thus treat melasma. The 590nm filter also has a certain light absorption effect on melanin, which can accelerate epidermal renewal metabolism and promote melanin excretion.

The photon treatment parameters for post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) can refer to the treatment parameters for melasma. PIH is divided into two situations: one is that there is still residual skin inflammation, erythema with pigmentation, and hemoglobin is the main target color base at this time.

The purpose of reducing redness is achieved by coagulating blood and reducing blood flow, while promoting the excretion of melanin; secondly, there is no erythema, only pigmentation. At this time, you can completely refer to the treatment parameters of melasma. The 590nm filter can use higher energy. The specific energy needs to be determined by spot testing based on the color of the spots, the degree of erythema and the dryness of the skin.

【Whitening】

Photon whitening is different from photon freckle removal and belongs to the category of maintenance. It is recommended to use mild parameters:

Photon whitening mainly achieves whitening effects through the following two principles:

①. Epidermal melanin absorbs light and produces heat, promoting epidermal renewal, accelerating epidermal replacement time, and updating the epidermal layer with more melanin to a new epidermal layer with less melanin;

②. It accelerates epidermal renewal, removes accumulated keratin, makes the skin smooth and shiny, and looks whiter. It should be noted that the redness-removing effect of photons closing blood vessels belongs to the broad whitening, and is not the whitening goal that beauty seekers really pursue. When setting whitening parameters, freckles, sun spots and other spots should also be considered. If there are spots superimposed on the dark skin, mild parameters should be used in the superimposed parts, and photons can be emitted repeatedly.

If whitening and freckle removal are required, refer to the above freckle removal parameter settings; if only whitening is required, 590nm can be used for multiple irradiation, or 590nm, 640nm, and 695nm filters can be used in combination to achieve whitening and skin rejuvenation effects.

Although intense pulsed light (photon) is widely used in whitening and freckle removal, there are obvious differences in the working principle and parameter setting between the two. Photon whitening focuses on promoting epidermal renewal metabolism and improving keratin accumulation through mild parameters to achieve the purpose of whitening; photon freckle removal selects radical or mild parameters according to the type of freckles, and acts precisely on melanin or other target color bases. For example, when treating melasma, the strategy of improving photoaging should be adopted, and 3 pulse parameters should be selected; while when treating freckles and solar lentigo, melanosomes need to be quickly heated to denature and excrete them.

The formation mechanism of each type of pigmentation is different. Even for freckles and lentigo in epidermal spots, the photon treatment parameters need to vary from spot to spot. In actual operation, it is necessary to read the full text carefully, combine the specific situation of the patient, and accurately set the parameters to achieve the best treatment effect.

This article is written based on an in-depth understanding of photon technology and a detailed study of the mechanism of pigmentation formation, combined with personal experience. If there is any bias or inaccuracy, colleagues are welcome to criticize and correct.

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Foremed Legend

The core founding team of Suzhou Foremed Legend Medical Technology Co., Ltd. comes from well-known universities at home and abroad such as Peking University. Foremed Legend focuses on the design, research and development and application of high-end medical beauty optoelectronic equipment based on compliance and product strength, and is committed to becoming a leading enterprise in the field of high-end medical beauty optoelectronic equipment in the world, a provider of integrated intelligent solutions for diagnosis and treatment, and a pioneer of medical beauty data integration platform.

Through tackling a series of underlying key technologies, Foremed Legend has now independently developed a number of high-end medical equipment such as picosecond laser therapy devices, long pulse laser therapy devices, intense pulsed light therapy devices, photoacoustic imaging skin detection devices and cold air therapy devices, and continues to deepen the research and development of core product technologies, using better technical solutions to benefit the vast number of beauty seekers.

Adhering to the principle of using technology for good, Foremed Legend will work with industry and ecological partners to bring more safe and effective medical beauty optoelectronic equipment and integrated diagnosis and treatment solutions to the global medical beauty market.