Recent work undertaken at NPL is making Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treatments safer for patient and practitioner alike.

IPL is mainly used to treat certain cosmetic conditions - it can remove unwanted body hair, reduce the appearance of surface veins, and generally improve skin's appearance. As it is a virtually painless non-surgical technique, which generally produces good results, people are queuing up for treatment.

However, there are no clearly defined regulatory standards for IPL devices, and therefore the safety and effectiveness of treatment can vary from clinic to clinic.

To help solve this problem, NPL scientists together with academic and industrial partners have collaborated to develop a traceable measurement system based on the dosimetry needs for IPL devices. This measurement system will hopefully be rolled out to industry over the next three years.

This new ability to test the effectiveness of IPL devices will be of clear advantage to the manufacturers involved, but also to IPL practitioners and patients.

For further information, contact Paul Miller

Find out more about NPL's research in Optical Radiation & Photonics