Home / IPL machine types guide

Buyers also search for an IPL laser machine, a professional IPL machine, an IPL photo laser, and IPL laser rejuvenation. Those terms describe the same IPL family vocabulary. A buyer should ask the supplier which modes a given unit includes, and ask for the answer in writing, because a mode name alone does not describe a unit's configuration.

The four modes in general terms

Traditional IPL describes pulsed light delivered in discrete pulses, as the general description of the class. SHR describes Super Hair Removal in-motion working, delivering repeated lower-energy pulses while the handpiece moves, as the general description of the class. OPT describes optimal pulse technology, a multi-pulse description used for IPL working. FP describes a Fly Point mode, which the SMQ-NYC3 page presents as a mode developed by the company's research team for sensitive areas, as the manufacturer states.

On this site, only the SMQ-NYC3 page ties all three modes — traditional IPL, FP, and SHR — to a single named unit, and only that page's figures are published for those modes. The IPL category page and its combination listings do not carry mode figures, and this guide does not borrow the SMQ-NYC3 figures for any other unit.

The boundary between this guide and the IPL category page is a vocabulary boundary: the category page lists what the company lists, and this guide explains what the mode terms mean in general. A buyer who wants a specific unit should start from the category page, then use this guide to phrase questions about modes.

Questions to ask before ordering

• Ask the supplier which modes a given unit includes — traditional IPL, SHR, OPT, FP, or a subset — and ask for the answer in writing.
• Ask which treatment heads a given unit includes, and ask for that list in writing.
• Ask what is included with the unit, and ask for that list in writing.
• Ask how after-sales support is arranged, and ask for the terms in writing before payment.