NEEDHAM, Mass., Mar. 1 -- ESC Medical Systems announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the company's proprietary Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) technology for use in removing hair from skin type VI, or the darkest skin types, including black skin. Yacha Sutton, ESC Medical's CEO, commented, This represents a major breakthrough and is the second FDA clearance received for our IPL technology in less than a month. Franklin Johnson, a lead investigator in the clinical study of the IPL system on skin type VI, said that prior to this FDA action, dark-complexioned patients had few options for the removal of unwanted hair and the results were at best temporary. Now, with the new longer wavelength, we can apply the deeper effects of the technology for hair removal, while bypassing the epidermal melanin present in dark-skinned individuals, explained Johnson, a general surgeon affiliated with Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y.