Preliminary trial to investigate temperature of the iPulse intense pulsed light (IPL) glass transmission block during treatment of Fitzpatrick II, IV, V, and VI skin types.

The glass transmission block, a key component of all intense pulsed light (IPL) devices, is responsible for the delivery of IPL energy from the xenon discharge lamp to hair and skin structures during treatment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the variation in temperature of the quartz glass block used in the iPulse (CyDen, Swansea, UK) handset during typical hair removal treatments of Asian and Afro-Caribbean skin types. Initial results from four subjects indicated that the temperature of the glass transmission block did not exceed 45 degrees C during any of the treatments. Furthermore, the development of the temperature measurement methodology described in this paper will enable the comparison of data from different IPL systems to be undertaken in a subsequent larger scale trial.