ALL THE LIGHTS. Your Guide to Light Therapies

By Alanna Douglas

Let’s begin this new chapter with bringing in light and energy to transform your client’s skin. The cooler months certainly lend themselves to utilising light-based devices.

There are so many possibilities when it comes to working with light therapies, let me take you on a journey and let’s discover which might be the best fit for you and your clients.

Believe it or not, not all lights are made to the same standards, and they all perform differently. Which is part of what makes working with them somewhat overwhelming, as I hear so often “Where do I start?”.

In my experience, this is where I would start, go out and get yourself an LED. You can treat every skin condition under the sun if you get a machine that is of amazing quality. They also work for themselves, once you pop your client under it babysits them for intervals of up to 30 mins depending on how long your machine needs to give its dosage of amazing light.

In terms of inconvenience to your client, there is NONE. They walk in pop under the light with freshly cleansed skin, soak up the goodness and then finish with a serum and SPF. Giving your clients that instant glow. It’s also a great excuse for a quick nap in-between clients to recharge your skin and energy.

You can get LEDs ranging from a couple of hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. You want to look for a machine that has its medical CE certification and delivers evidence-based lights. At present blue, red and near-infrared are the only 3 that have this backing.

Once you have been introduced to the magical wonders of LED it's then time to possibly consider adding Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) to your offerings. This will be a game changer for your business and treatment outcomes for your clients.

So why an IPL? They are multi-use (can you pick up on the theme here) you can treat hair, pigmentation, vascular malformations and skin rejuvenation all in the one device. IPL uses emits broadband light via a flashlamp in the handpiece.

This light is then filtered to the depth of the target tissue by the operator to allow the energy to be absorbed where it needs to be. Treatments are comfortable and efficient for your client and for you. I just want you to imagine for a minute how good that you feel to never ever have to wax a full leg again, and instead, use your hair zapping baby to easily glide along and do the work for you. You can also help with the severity of conditions like rosacea, acne, scarring and SO MUCH MORE. The list of skins and complaints you can offer solutions for is endless.

Now I know you are sitting there thinking this sounds great Alanna, but what’s the catch? When you are operating IPL, it does come with more risk and not all clients are candidates for treatment. So, keep in mind when you are looking at purchasing a machine what is the training and support offered and how versatile is the machine you are looking at.

This again is not something that you choose to invest less, you need to invest well to get a good workhorse machine that will purr for you as you use it. My OG IPL is 8 years old and still going because I spent more when I purchased and got an incredibly good quality machine.

This brings me to my final category lasers! The pinnacle of all the lights and by far the highest investment you will make in a light technology. We are talking six figures here to get a good quality device that will work like a dream. This amazing technology is super specific, so there isn’t so much of the whole “one device can do many things”, but each laser is very good at doing their specific job. Lasers unlike IPL produce monochromatic light meaning one light at a time.

For example, you would need one laser to treat hair and another for vascular treatments. There are a lot more coming out onto the market that are a blend and will allow you to treat maybe two conditions at the same time. Further to this they have a lot more scope and flexibility in who you can treat.

IPL can treat up to a Fitzpatrick 3 or 4, lasers on the other hand can treat most Fitzpatrick types as the light they produce is so specific. To give you a comparison you would need about 3 lasers to do the job of one IPL machine, but you would be able to treat most Fitzpatrick types as this is where IPL has its downfall. The last thing you need to know about lasers is there is licencing that needs to be undertaken to possess, train and use them. Each state and territory are different so make sure you check with yours before purchasing a machine.

Machines are addictive and once you have one, then you want more! I have recently just added a new light baby to my machine family and it’s blowing my mind! If you want to see my new Larry (yes, I name my machines) then head to my Instagram and you can see his dedicated highlight.

My final piece of advice I will leave you with, you don’t have to have all the things! Take your time, absorb all the info see what feels like a good step for you and your business.

You can reach Alanna Douglas at Skin Freak Academy www.skinfreakacademy.com.au hello@skinfreakacademy.com