Evaluation of thermal shock therapy for reducing pain during intense pulsed light therapy: An intrapatient randomized controlled study.

BACKGROUND: Intense pulsed light (IPL) is used for the treatment and improvement of various skin issues. However, patients often experience local skin burning and pain after IPL treatment. Cooling and analgesic measures are indispensable.

AIMS: To investigate the clinical effect of thermal shock therapy on pain relief and reduction of adverse reactions during IPL therapy.

PATIENTS/METHODS: A total of 60 female patients with facial photoaging who received IPL therapy were enrolled in the study. As a comparative split-face study, one side of the face was randomly selected as the control side. The other side was given thermal shock therapy before and after the IPL treatment immediately as analgesic side. The visual analog scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the pain degree of the patients. The telephone follow-ups regarding the occurrence of adverse reactions were conducted respectively on the 2nd day, 7th day, and 1 month after treatment.

RESULTS: The VAS score and skin temperature of analgesia side was lower than that of control side at different stages of treatment. In terms of adverse reactions, the incidence of transient facial redness on the analgesic side was lower than that on the control side. Two patients showed slight secondary pigmentation on the control side, and the other patients showed no other adverse reactions on both sides.

CONCLUSIONS: Thermal shock therapy assisted IPL therapy can reduce skin temperature during treatment, effectively relieve patients' pain, reduce the occurrence of adverse reactions caused by heat injury, and improve patients' comfort level.