Published on: February 25, 2026
Most of us spend a lot of time and money caring for our faces. Retinol. Vitamin C serum. SPF every morning without fail. Facials. BBL Forever Young. And it pays off — the face really can look remarkably younger with consistent treatment and a good home care routine.
But here's the thing I notice all the time in my practice: patients come in with a beautifully treated face... and then pull up their sleeve to show me the back of their hand, or mention how much they hate the sun damage on their chest. The face has gotten all the attention, and the rest of the body has been left behind.
I get it. Treating the body feels like a lot. It's a bigger area, it seems like it would take forever, and historically, it did take forever. But that has changed — dramatically — with the arrival of the BBL HEROic.
If you've read my earlier post about BBL Forever Young, you know that I consider the Sciton BBL device to be the gold standard for light-based skin rejuvenation. We use it constantly at Glow — it's our "Eraser." BBL stands for BroadBand Light, and it works by delivering short, powerful bursts of light energy into the skin, targeting brown pigment (melanin) and red pigment (hemoglobin) to erase sun spots, redness, and uneven tone, while also stimulating a little collagen production for firmer, younger-looking skin.
BBL HEROic is the next generation of this technology. The "HERO" stands for High Energy Rapid Output, and the name is not an exaggeration. The HEROic delivers the same proven BBL light energy we know and love, but at up to four times the speed of traditional BBL — with enhanced precision and even better cooling technology for a more comfortable experience. Treatments that used to take a long time on larger body areas can now be done in minutes.
Think of it this way: with the original BBL, treating your face was fast and efficient. Treating your arms, chest, and legs in the same session? That was a time commitment. With BBL HEROic, covering large body areas is genuinely fast. We're talking about treating your full back or both legs in just a few minutes. That changes everything in terms of what's feasible in a single appointment.
The same things BBL Forever Young has always treated so beautifully — plus more, and on more skin types:
One of the things I'm most excited about with HEROic is its improved Intelligent Control technology, which helps ensure consistent, uniform energy delivery across the skin surface. This reduces the risk of undertreated or overtreated areas and makes for cleaner, more even results — especially important when you're treating large body areas.
Here's the honest truth: the skin on your chest, hands, neck, and arms ages exactly the same way your facial skin does. It gets thinner. It loses collagen. It accumulates sun damage. The melanocytes (the cells that produce pigment) become erratic and produce spots. Blood vessels dilate and become visible.
And yet — most people treat their faces and completely ignore the rest.
Your hands and chest, in particular, are major "age giveaways." I can look at someone's hands and chest and often get a better read on their true age than I can from their face, precisely because people invest in their faces and neglect everything else. If the goal is to look and feel your best, it makes sense to think about the whole picture.
The good news is that the skin on your body responds to BBL treatment just as well as your face does. The sun spots darken and slough off. The redness fades. The collagen gets a boost. You walk out of the office looking more even-toned and over the coming weeks your skin continues to improve.
The experience is comfortable. We pass the handpiece over your skin, you feel a warm sensation with each pulse of light, and the built-in sapphire cooling crystal keeps the surface of your skin cool throughout. There’s no need any topical numbing cream.
After treatment, pigmented spots will often darken right away — this is actually a good sign. It means the light reached its target. Those darkened spots will naturally slough off over the next one to two weeks as your skin's healing process kicks in, revealing clearer, more even skin underneath.
There is essentially no downtime. Some mild redness for an hour or so after treatment is typical, and then you go on with your day. Sunscreen is a must afterward (honestly, it should be a must every day — but especially after BBL).
For correction — meaning you're starting with real sun damage or significant redness — most people need a series of about three treatments, spaced about four to six weeks apart. For some, particularly those with significant years of sun damage, it may take more.
For maintenance — once you've corrected the damage — we recommend ongoing BBL sessions, typically two to four times per year. This is the concept behind BBL Forever Young: regular treatments don't just maintain your results, they actually keep the skin acting younger at a cellular level. Stanford researchers found that patients who received regular BBL treatments over many years had skin that behaved more like younger skin on a genetic level. That's remarkable, and it's why I think of BBL as one of the foundational anti-aging investments you can make.
Traditional IPL was limited largely to lighter skin types due to the risk of hyperpigmentation on darker skin. BBL HEROic's advanced tunable technology and adjustable wavelengths have expanded its safe use to a broader range of skin tones. That said, this is not a one-size-fits-all device, and proper settings matter enormously. Always have BBL HEROic treatments performed by an experienced, medically supervised provider who knows how to customize treatment for your specific skin type.
If you've been focused on your face and ignoring your chest, hands, arms, or neck, now is a great time to think bigger. BBL HEROic makes full-body skin care genuinely practical, not just in theory. A well-designed treatment plan can address your face and extend that same rejuvenation to the areas that give away your age most.
At Glow, we love helping patients put together a plan that makes sense for their skin, their schedule, and their budget. Schedule a consultation and let's talk about what a head-to-toe approach could look like for you.
To find out more about BBL HEROic at Glow Medispa, call us at our West Seattle location at (206) 228-7281 or our Kirkland location at (425) 522-4477.
