Does Intake Of Citalopram Before IPL Treatment Cause Photo-sensitivity?

Posted on Tue, 21 Jun 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 21 Jun 2016 Answered on

Tue, 12 Jul 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : I am going to have IPL laser hair removal in a couple of days and am on a really low dose of citalopram (10mg and working my way to stopping altogether for the past year). I was told I should not take medications that make one photosensitive for 2 days before the IPL treatment (like Ibuprofen), because they can cause severe burns during treatment - but I have just found out that citalopram can cause photosensitivity. If I wanted to go ahead with the treatment, how long would I have to wait after stopping the medication before undergoing IPL? Would a couple of days be long enough? Or would I have to stop taking my medication for longer? I am also on the Mirena coil, but cannot find any info regarding photosensitivity for that...

Answered by Dr. Dr.Albana Sejdini Greca (9 hours later)

Brief Answer:
No problem to stop Citalopram 2 days before IPL

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

I understand your concern.

There should be no problem if you stop Citalopram 2 days before IPL.

With regards to mirena coil , that should not be a problem too while doing IPL.

Good luck.
Dr.Albana

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar