The Ellipse I2PL system is used to treat a wide range of skin conditions, including the removal of unwanted hair and the treatment of sun-damaged skin, acne, and blood vessels and pigment marks visible on the skin. The phrase “I2PL” stands for Second Generation Intense Pulsed Light

To best understand how Ellipse treatment works, we need to break down Second Generation intense Pulsed Light into its important parts.

What is light, in this context?

Light is a form of energy. It is part of what scientists call the “Electromagnetic Spectrum” – different forms of energy that all spread out as they travel. Other forms of energy in this spectrum include radio waves and microwaves.

What we consider normal light (white light) is made up of lots of different colours, as can be seen in a rainbow. But since the colours are a little more complicated than the six or seven we can see, scientists use the term “wavelength” to describe a specific colour of light.

Light of different wavelengths has different properties. Ultraviolet and infrared light, for example, are invisible to the eye. Ultraviolet light is used in solaria and will artificially age the skin (this is called sun damage or photo-aging). Infrared light will heat up the water in the skin.

These wavelengths also have different energies that affect how far the light can travel. Near the surface of the ocean, for example, you can see all colours of light. But lower down in the water the colours disappear until, deep in the ocean, it is impossible to see anything.

The same thing happens in the skin – light can travel only a certain distance, called the penetration depth. The light from the Ellipse System can travel down a few millimetres into the skin – enough to be able to treat your unwanted hair, blood vessels, acne or excess pigment.

What is Intense Pulsed Light?

In its simplest form, this is a way of saying short flashes of very bright light. Ellipse uses short, safe bursts of light emitted from a flash-lamp to treat specific problem areas of the body. The technology is rather complicated, but the Ellipse system very carefully controls the overall delivery of the light – both the amount of light and the speed of its delivery to your skin are exact and precisely regulated by Ellipse’s built-in computer.

What is second-generation Intense Pulsed Light (I2PL)?

As mentioned earlier, white light is made up of various colours, or wavelengths. The light from the flash-lamp used in Intense Pulsed Light systems includes invisible ultraviolet and infrared light, as well as visible white light.

First-generation Intense Pulsed Light systems filter out the ultraviolet light, but allow the infrared light through. The Ellipse second-generation (I2PL) system has an extra filter to remove the infrared light. This ensures that the light that is directed to your skin contains only the wavelengths that are required to perform the treatment.

Treatment with I2PL is thereby more effective and safer, since it uses much less energy and does not require any cooling.

How can light be used to perform a treatment?

When a bright beam of light enters your skin, certain natural pigments in your body absorb the light. One of these pigments is melanin, which is found in the skin and in hair (white hair, red hair and very blond hair do not contain enough melanin to absorb light). Another pigment – haemoglobin – is found in blood. The third substance in the skin that absorbs light is water. When the pigment absorbs the light it converts it into heat. This is the same principle that makes a black car hot to the touch in summer. Unlike the black car, melanin and haemoglobin are selective in the light they absorb. They only absorb a certain band of wavelengths. This band is called the absorption spectrum.

Ellipse uses light (carefully controlled and carefully filtered light to target the pigment that is causing your problem. For hair removal or brown marks on the skin, the target is melanin. For treatment of problem blood vessels and acne, the target is haemoglobin. In treating sun-damaged skin, both melanin and haemoglobin may be targeted.

A very short pulse of light (only a few thousandths of a second) hits the target and causes it to heat up. Because the light is so carefully controlled, only the target is damaged – the surrounding skin and the water in the skin are not harmed.

What are the treatment possibilities?

The light that is absorbed by melanin and haemoglobin is absorbed within a few millimetres of the surface of the skin. The skin is made up of three main layers, and only blood vessels and melanin that are located close to the skin surface can be treated. Fortunately, this distance allows the Ellipse I2PL system to treat many of the most common and most annoying skin problems:

• Removal of excess hair on any part of the body
• Vascular lesions: thread veins, port wine stains
• Acne
• Pigmented lesions: brown pigment marks, such as freckles or age spots
• Sun-damaged skin

Why are energy and pulses important?

The idea behind Ellipse is called Selective Photothermolysis. This means carefully changing light energy into heat energy. The amount of energy is important; as we need to make sure that we hit our target (for example hair, or a small blood vessel or a brown mark) with just the right amount of energy to get the desired result without damaging the surrounding tissue.

The pulse time is also important because it controls how quickly the energy is delivered. The size and colour of the targets determine how quickly they heat up and cool down again (a big cup of coffee stays warm longer than a small cup), and the pulse is carefully selected to match the selected target.

Unlike many other products on the market, Ellipse carefully controls the amount of energy and the pulse so that the best possible result is obtained. Inferior equipment does not control the pulse, meaning the energy your body receives can vary during the lifetime of the pulse. Worst case, this can result in potential side effects or even burning.

Ellipse controls the pulse and delivers the desired results – important factors in why it has been clinically proven to be safe and effective.

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