Question
As correctly mentioned, there is no link between IPL and fetal effect in pregnancy.
In my current practice, I advise my patients to consider IPL/Laser/Aesthetic treatments only after pregnancy and breast-feeding. Hope that this helps!
Best regards,
Dr Justin Boey
There are hardly any studies on IPL in pregnancy. However IPL is generally a surface laser treatment, with hardly any deeper penetrative effect so it’s unlikely to cause any fetal effect.
To put it in perspective, fetal congenital abnormalities has a background rate of about 3% in the general population and most other pregnancy complications are due to underlying medical illness in the mum eg. uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension, obesity.
The likelihood of external factors on baby are usually minuscule in normal circumstances unless for eg. the mum drinks or smokes or uses drugs heavily.
Having said that issues like bleeding, miscarriage are more common in first trimester, so we would suggest to avoid unnecessary treatments in the first trimester or to use alternative methods of hair removal … of which there are many …
But no there is no proven link between the use of IPL and fetal effect in pregnancy.
Hope that helps!!
Whatever Dr Jasmine said is completely right 🙂
There are no studies about the effects of lasers/IPL during pregnancy. Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) is generally super safe, as it’s just visible light (like sunlight) that’s given at a high energy. The light does not penetrate further than the skin.
There’s no radiation or potential harm to internal organs, or your baby.
However, most doctors would generally refrain from doing IPL during pregnancy, as skin hyperpigmentation/melasma is more likely while pregnant. This is due to hormonal fluctuation.
It’s probably best to wait till several months after delivery to get any sort of laser or IPL treatments.
Cheers
In general, there are a few considerations that we will look at for natural birth in overweight mothers: 1. Stage of your pregnancy 2. Size of your baby 3. Position of your baby 4. Presence of existing medical conditions or complications such as diabetes, position of your placenta etc. Of course, if you are in the pre-pregnancy stage and planning for a child with the goal of delivering naturally, then it is highly advisable to kick-start a weight loss programme.
You can start trying to conceive as soon as you stop taking the oral contraceptive pills. There is no need to wait or delay if that is your intention. The fact that you need to consume the oral contraceptive pills on a daily basis in order for it to work means that these pills only work for that day that you are taking them. If you stop or forget to take the oral contraceptive pills then there is a possibility of getting pregnant which accounts for oral contraceptive pill failure. The hormonal effects of the oral contraceptive pill therefore only last for 1 day in your body.
Get The Pill
Be healthier with our Bite-sized health news straight in your inbox
