Laser and Light Vascular Therapy CPD Course

Vascular Therapy is the use of intense pulsed light to treat thread veins, facial redness and other small vascular lesions of the face, legs and body.

Filtered light is absorbed by oxyhaemoglobin in the blood inside the vessel. The blood coagulates, heat damages the vessel wall, and over four to six weeks the body reabsorbs the treated vessel, leaving the skin clearer.

The course is taught across both devices, the IPL and the 980 nm diode laser.

The course covers the blood supply of the skin, recognising vascular lesions and knowing which are suitable and which must be referred, consultation and contraindications, patch testing, settings and technique, clinical endpoints, and managing complications.

It also teaches honestly what IPL cannot do. Blue, raised or wide vessels and most leg veins are not suitable, and learners are taught to refer them using the NICE criteria for referral to a specialist vascular service.