Shropshire Skin Clinic

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Shropshire Skin Clinic
Hospital Lodge
Farley Road
Much Wenlock
Shropshire
TF13 6NB
Telephone: 01952 728228
Fax: 01952 728028
email: info@shropshireskinclinic.co.uk

Dr Stephen Murdoch MB ChB FRCP is a consultant dermatologist on the General Medical Council specialist register and is the proprietor of Shropshire Skin Clinic.

Shropshire Skin Clinic opened in the Autumn of 2004 and is located in the attractive and historic Shropshire market town of Much Wenlock.
The clinic provides a discreet, comfortable and relaxing setting for clients who wish to put their cosmetic and general dermatology needs in the hands of a professional skin specialist.

Shropshire Skin Clinic is registered with the Care Quality Commission (previously known as the Healthcare Commission) and, therefore, meets the high standards required by this government regulatory body. The Registration Number for Shropshire Skin Clinic is PO30002048.

Hair Removal

Gail Black , Sharon Leach and Emma Norbury are our hair removal nurses. They see new clients for assessment and carry out the hair removal treatments. Dr Murdoch heads the clinic and is readily available to advise on treatment where necessary.

Hair removal using Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) is proven to effectively treat unwanted, pigmented hair on all areas of the body where such hair may grow. The principle and mode of action of hair removal lasers and IPL devices is the same. In the right hands hair removal lasers and good quality IPL devices will achieve good results. The quality of IPL devices varies enormously and there are many cheaper systems on the market. These cheaper systems mostly find their way into beauty salons and high street clinics. These systems generally deliver less energy in a less effective manner and the skin cooling systems are less effective. In this way the systems are less effective in producing permanant hair reduction and the risk of side effects may be higher. Many high street beauty salons buy cheap IPL systems but do not register with the Healthcare Commission - in this way they are operating illegally. Never have an IPL or laser treatment carried out in a clinic that is not registered with the Healthcare Commission.

At Shropshire Skin Clinic we use the Quantum IPL System manufactured by Lumenis and the Starlux 500 IPL system manufactured by Palomar, two of the world's leading and largest aesthetic laser manufacturers. We have separate treatment heads optimised to treat white and darker skin.

IPL and laser hair removal can be used on all skin types from white to black.


IPL treatment comprises highly controlled flashes of intense light which are selectively absorbed by hair follicles lying below the surface of the skin. The absorbed light heats the hairs which damages or destroys the regrowth potential of the follicles. Surrounding tissue is unaffected.

The best hairs to treat are dark and coarse. The finer and paler the hair, the less reliable the treatment and the greater the number of treatment sessions required to achieve the desired result. Blonde or silver grey hairs do not respond to treatment as they lack the necessary pigmentation. A number of clinics do claim to effectively treat blonde and silver hairs, however, the evidence for a long term result in these clients is poor. We prefer to treat clients in whom the majority of hairs are pigmented. We sometimes use a product called Meladine which attempts to pigment the fair hairs and make them susceptible to the IPL treatments.

Most clients need around six treatments to provide a satisfactory long term result. The number of treatments does, however, vary and fewer or more treatments may be neccesary.


Treatment starts with trimming away the hair above the skin. Eye pads will be applied to give protection from the bright light. A cold gel is then applied to the area to be treated and then the IPL handpiece is used to deliver pulses of intense light to the unwanted hair follicles. A stinging or sharp snap sensation might be felt with each pulse of light. As the treatment is non-invasive no recovery time is required and appointments can be safely made to fit into the working day.

The skin in the treatment area should not be tanned as this superficial pigment will also absorb the light energy and significantly increases the chance of complications.