you will find excellent answers to this question in the Lasers and IPL forum, specifically this thread ;

Laser or IPL for beards.

From Dr. Soldo:

“I do many IPLs daily and have for 9+ years and have never seen a permanent hair loss when not using deeper depth filters(above 700nm)–I would be more concerned with the laser than IPL unless individual vessels are being treated DR S”

From Dr. Crouch:

“Hair loss can occur with laser or IPL and I would agree that whilst it can happen, if you stick to the lower filter ranges, permanent hair loss is less likely (but probably not nil risk). I always advise patients,particularly men, that hair loss is possible and that they should clearly indicate prior to treatment any area which they would not wish to lose the ability to grow hair (remember fashions change and what is fashionable today may not be in a decade or so). I never assume that hair loss will never be an issue with female patients. I also warn patients that there have been some (thankfully rare) reported cases of paradoxical hair growth stimulation with IPL. I agree entirely with Dr Soldo’s comments; regarding the choice of filters. When I offer triple passes to most patients with rosacea (using three separate IPL filter ranges), I would generally choose to omit the third pass over areas with “desired hair retention” i.e. miss the 695nm and above filters from treating, say the beard area of a male patient.”

Hope this helps,
davidp.

I am thinking about IPL for my permanent facial redness, but I’m worried about losing facial hair as I have (and like) my beard. Can you tell me if IPL setting required to treat my facial redness would affect my facial hair in any way.

Thanks in advance,
B

I have to tell you that ipl has only a 20% success rate with rosacea.. I started to show signs of rosacea about a year and half ago. It wasnt a sever case by any means but little vessals were visable on my cheeks and nose. I went to a derm who used a yellow yag laser and it did help, however the overall rendness was still on my face. That was 1800 bucks and i wasnt completely happy so i started to research other options. I went to a medi spa near my house and told them my situation. They gave me a inside look on all that was going on with this high tech machine and told me that ipl would take care of all of it.. Of course I bought the treatments and after 5 there was really no improvement. They said they would continue to treat me as long as it took to correct the problem…. 13 ipl treatments later. 3 pics of my face later and 1500 bucks later no change. The owner said he would give me my money back if the treatments didnt work and guess what? U guessed they wont call me back… Now for some better news to share. I have good insurance ,a major carrier and just happen to check out this internal doctor in my area who also treats roseacea. He uses the v beam laser and I have only had one treatment so far..I am hopeful.. But heres the best part after nearly spending 4000 I learned that my insurance covers my treatments because roseaca is a medical issue and the only way to correct and or treat this conditon is to use laser to rid the broken vessals…. Each treatment only cost my copay. Ipl does work better than anything else for the removal of blond hair only… dark get laser.

It depends on the settings used. IPL/VPL can be targetted to destroy hair follicles as well as target blood vessels (as in rosacea). There are many different types of laser, and in general they will also be able to be use to target hair removal. So I don’t think there is a simple answer to which one is better.

davidp.