Intense pulsed light (IPL) is a high-intensity treatment for skin disorders and ageing. As this treatment regime is oftenpoorly regulated and inadequately studied, we investigate IPL as a cosmetic device and its effects on dermal collagencomponents of the skin.Biopsies from the back-neck folds of a 4-week-old, 25 kg large white pig were irradiated with intense pulsed light (IPL)(λ= 584 nm) at an increased radiation dose of 40 J/cm~2 once, thrice and ten times. Samples were cryo-sectioned (10 μm)and stained with picro sirrus red. Ex-vivo biopsies were assessed with polarized light microscopy (PLM), atomic forcemicroscopy (AFM) and scanning acoustic microscopy. Customized software was used to map the sound speed andattenuation on the ultrasonic imagesDifferences in collagen structure were observed between all three levels of irradiation progressing depth-wise into theepidermis. Ex-vivo porcine tissue demonstrated loss of D-banding and gelatinization with increasing dermal depth withhigher intensities. Acoustic microscopy demonstrated a significant decrease in sound speed and attenuation that relates tothe number of exposures. Sound speed decreases at much faster rates than attenuation.
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