About the treatment
It is better at the aftermath than at the outbreak
That sentence is not a criticism of the treatment. It is the most useful thing anyone can tell you about it, because the aftermath is usually what people are actually unhappy about.
Stand in front of a mirror and count. On most faces described as covered in acne, the number of raised, inflamed spots is small. What fills the rest of the picture is flat red and brown marks where spots used to be — dilated vessels and leftover pigment, neither of which will clear on their own timetable quickly. Those are exactly what pulse light removes, because both absorb the light strongly while the skin around them does not.
It does also work on live acne. Some of the wavelengths reach the bacteria in the follicle, which produce compounds that release reactive oxygen when they absorb light, and some of the energy reaches the oil gland and calms its output. That is real and it is slower and less dramatic than the marks clearing.
What it cannot do is fill an indented scar. Once tissue has been lost, light does not bring it back, and we will tell you that at the consultation on Wynford Drive instead of booking you a course.
Why here
What a Toronto week does to breakout-prone skin
Every city has its own version of this. Here it is mostly about what settles on the face and what it is mixed with.
Traffic particulate goes into the pore
Fine soot from the road settles on the skin, combines with your own oil and sunscreen, and works its way in where a face wash at the sink will not reach. Anyone commuting daily, on a bike or in traffic, is getting a steady supply.
Humid summers, dry heated winters
July gives you sweat sitting under sunscreen all day. February gives you a stripped barrier overproducing oil to compensate. Two different causes, the same result in the mirror.
The commute itself
Helmet straps, scarves and a phone against the cheek all press and trap. Breakouts that appear in a band along the jaw or the hairline usually have a mechanical explanation rather than a hormonal one.
Winter is when to run a course
Every session needs untanned skin, and a Toronto November through March delivers that without any planning. Starting after a summer outdoors usually means waiting four weeks first.
Indications
What is it good for?
Inflammatory breakouts, and above all the flat red and brown marks they leave behind.
Blackheads and blocked pores that are not inflamed are a job for the hydro facial, and oil with open pores for the carbon peel facial. Everything we run in North York is on the Toronto clinic page.
Choosing between them
IPL or a hydro facial
Both are offered here for acne-prone skin and they solve different halves of it. This is the comparison that saves people the most money.
Acne facial with IPL
- Light. It works on bacteria, oil production and the marks left behind
- The pore itself is not emptied — nothing is extracted
- Best when the complaint is redness, inflammation and discolouration
- Restricted by skin tone, and off the table on a tan
Hydro facial
- Mechanics. Fluid and controlled suction clear the pore physically
- Nothing is done about vessels or pigment
- Best when the complaint is blackheads, congestion and city grime
- Safe on every skin tone and repeatable monthly
Plenty of faces need both, and the usual order is to clear the pores first and treat the marks afterwards. We will say which one to start with rather than sell you the pair.
Being straight with you
When we will say no, or not yet
Four situations, all of which come up regularly. None of them is a permanent refusal except the first.
Your skin tone rules it out
Pulse light cannot separate the pigment it is aiming at from the pigment evenly present in your skin, and as natural tone deepens the margin narrows to the point where a burn or a pale patch becomes likely. In a city this diverse we have this conversation constantly, and we would rather have it than take a risk with your face. Other routes exist and we will name them.
You are on isotretinoin, or recently were
Skin stays fragile for months after a course finishes. Tell us, and we will wait rather than work around it.
The acne is deep and cystic
That is a medical problem and it deserves a doctor first. We would rather refer you and treat the aftermath well than take money for a course that disappoints.
The skin is open right now
Weeping, freshly picked or broken areas are left alone until they close. That is a delay of a week or two, not a refusal.
Getting ready
Pre & post treatment
Nothing complicated, but the four-week sun rule is not negotiable and the acne products need pausing.
In the month beforehand
- Your skin has to be its own colour. That means a full month away from sunbeds, beaches and bottled tan — a bottled one in particular, which the machine mistakes for a birthmark.
- Park the acne routine. Retinoids and benzoyl peroxide come out seven days ahead, exfoliating acids three.
- Hands off. Anything you have picked at cannot be treated until it has closed over.
- Write down what you take. Every prescription for your skin, current or finished in the last year, oral ones included.
In the days that follow
- Expect a flushed, slightly hot face into the evening, and individual spots looking sharper for about a day.
- Anything brown will go dark first and shed itself within a fortnight. Do not help it along.
- SPF is the non-negotiable one, February as much as July.
- Two days without heat — steam rooms, hot studios, long showers — and five without anything strong on your face.
Also on Wynford Drive
Treatments that work well around this one
- Blue Light Therapy in Toronto — the gentler light route, safe on every skin tone
- Hydro Facial in Toronto — for clearing the pore itself
- IPL Facial in Toronto — the same technology for sun damage and general redness
- Carbon Peel Facial in Toronto — for oil and open pores
- Our Toronto clinic — everything we run in North York
