Vital questions before buying an IPL machine

What are typical treatment fees and will I be able to generate sufficient income?

Don't be taken in by suppliers' income projections. These are specifically created to make their machine look like a goldmine. You can't really use an IPL machine for 8 hours a day, especially if you are a single operator. There are other treatments that you will need to provide. We believe that a realistic approach is to calculate your expected income (at least to start with) based on one or two treatments a day. Then and only then you will be able to say if the numbers really add up.

What range of wavelengths does the equipment cover, and what treatments can the equipment undertake?

Your chosen equipment must be flexible enough to accommodate different treatments. This is achieved by either having different optical heads with different filters (which cover different wavelengths) or have one optical head with the ability to attach these filters manually. A machine with a single filter can perform certain treatments but will give rise to a lot of complications.

How fast or how often is the pulse delivered (pulse repetition rate)?

This is a very important point that will affect both your profits and your time. If your chosen machine can only flash (shoot) every 5 seconds, then a treatment that takes 30 minutes, will take you 5 times the amount of time, that is two and a half hours.

What is the possible pulse width and pulse delay?

The pulse width and pulse delay are very important variables to the treatment. These regulate how long the light remains on the skin and how long you give the skin to relax (or cool down). They are very important adjustments when you are treating clients of darker skin colour. If your machine is not sufficiently flexible enough, to be able to adjust these up or down then you will end up rejecting a lot of clients as well as burning others.

How much light energy is delivered – the fluence?

Machines delivering anything under 45J/cm2 are grossly underpowered. To put it simply, they do not have enough grunt to deliver good results.

What is the size of the treatment beam or spot size?

Too small of a spot size then you need more shots to cover your treatment are. Too big of a spot size, will require much more power to deliver the required energy.

Does the equipment have built-in cooling systems to minimise skin damage as well as prolong the equipments life?

The best equipment on the market has a number of different ways of cooling down. IPLs store a lot of energy in their capacitors and release this after you trigger the optical head. This creates a reasonable amount of heat, within the machine. Cooling can take place in three different ways: by circulating water, by air and by semiconductor.

The best machines incorporate all three different ways. Machines that are under-cooled suffer with thermal blocks. This means that your machine will switch off and you will have to wait for it until it cools down. So you will not have a machine to use for the next few hours.

How long can the equipment work without a thermal block?

This depends on its cooling capacity and the size of the water tank. A two litre water tank is too small to cope and the machine as such will give you too many thermal blocks.

How long does the optical head light last ... and can you test them?

Normally these last between 30-50000 shots (that’s a lot of shots). They can actually flash up to half million shots, but their efficiency will be as good as your camera's flash. So do not be taken in by claims that some light bulbs last up to 200,000 shots. They will flash but not deliver results.

We will test the efficiency of your optical head with our special equipment on your premises, in your presence. You will see whether you need to change the light bulb or not. We will not change the light bulb for the sake of charging you money.

Have you got a choice of machines? Or is it a “one size fits all” scenario?

Why would you buy an IPL from a supplier when the only choice they give you is perhaps the colour of the machine? One machine definitely does not fit every situation. Knowledgeable suppliers have a good range to accommodate their customers' needs.

Is the supplier a specialist IPL distributor or general beauty products supplier?

Have you come across a car dealer that sells only one type of car? So why would you buy from a supplier that sells only one type of IPL?

What are the on-going equipment service or maintenance costs?

Specialised suppliers carry their own spares and do their own service. How would you feel if your machine end up at a subcontractor's workshop for the next eight weeks?

Is an equipment loan available if my equipment fails?

Any good supplier will do this but sometimes when the crunch comes they tend to have all their machines on loan. Perhaps its because their equipment breaks down regularly…

Will the supplier provide free full training, or do I have to pay extra?

We want to stress this. You should not spend any of your hard earned money to pay for training. This should be included in the price of the machine (not as an add-on and not limited) and should be thorough enough so that you will not need to spend even an extra cent for further training. What’s the point in having a machine that you are not happy to use.

Are your questions answered to your satisfaction, or is the sales person is waffling to get you to purchase?

Has the salesperson answered ALL your questions to your satisfaction? How knowledgeable is he/she? Have they just graduated from an unrelated sales job and become today’s IPL super sales person? Or are they the so called IPL consultants that will not charge you any fee because they would like to do a favour for you?

How well does the supplier know their machines?

Can your supplier demonstrate their IPL knowledge? Are they prepared to open their machines inside and explain to you the nitty gritty? Check out their website, check their qualifications, have they got happy customers? Any unhappy customers?

Are you thinking of embarking on an ITEC Laser / IPL Course?

You might need to think about this, very carefully. Ask us for our opinion. Our recommendation will cost you nothing and might save you money.

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