Years of sun exposure left Jenny Fowler with redness on her face and neck that wouldn't go away. She got tired of people noticing all the time.

"Everyone would always mention how red I was," she said. "Are you embarrassed, or are you hot, or whatever the case may be? And I'd be like, no, it's just my skin."

So the Oxford woman came to Premier Med Spa of Raleigh to have a procedure called Intense Pulse Light, or IPL, to erase the redness and get rid of dark spots caused by sun damage.

"The people that I think get the best result from this are patients that have age spots or dark spots from the sun," said Dr. Raymond Cook. "Patients that have lots of fine little blood vessels also get a nice response and people who have lots of minimal or light wrinkles, because it helps in all of those areas."

Unlike most skin peels or microdermabrasion, the procedure uses varied intensities of light pulses to penetrate the layers of the skin. The light is delivered by a hand-held device and is absorbed by the blood in broken blood vessels, prompting the body to respond by getting rid of the injured tissue, erasing the redness. It does the same for dark spots on the skin.

The procedure, sometimes called a "Photo Facial," also can be effective for patients with chronic redness from rosacea.

"There aren't a lot of good treatments out there for rosacea, but we certainly do try and some patients have very nice results," he said. "Others only get minimal improvement."

Like most cosmetic procedures, patients typically need several treatments to get complete results. A package of three treatments typically runs about $750.

People with dark skin are advised not to have the procedure because it may cause permanent pigmentation problems.