U
nwanted facial and body hair can affect the way we feel, our social interactions, what we wear and what we do.
Options to camouflage or remove unwanted hair include plucking, shaving, bleaching, using creams and epilation (using a device that pulls out multiple hairs at once).
Longer-term options include electrolysis, which uses an electrical current to destroy individual hair follicles, and laser therapy.
asers emit a wavelength of light with a specific single color.
When targeted to the skin, the energy from the light is transferred to the skin and hair pigment melanin. This heats up and damages the surrounding tissue.
But to remove hair permanently and to minimise damage to the surrounding tissue, the laser needs to be targeted to specific cells. These are the hair follicle stem cells, which sit in part of the hair known as the hair bulge.
As the skin surface also contains melanin, which we want to avoid damaging, people are carefully shaved before treatment.
L
aser treatment can either permanently reduce the density of the
hair or permanently remove unwanted hair.
Permanent reduction in hair density means some hairs will regrow after a single course of therapy and patients will need ongoing laser treatment.
Permanent hair removal means none of the hairs in the treated area will regrow after a single course of therapy and no ongoing laser therapy is needed.
However, if you have grey hairs, which have no melanin pigmentation, currently available lasers don’t work.
he number of treatments you’ll need depends on your Fitzpatrick skin type.
This classifies your skin by color, its sun sensitivity and its likelihood to tan.
Pale or white skin, burns easily, rarely tans (Fitzpatrick types 1 and 2) People with dark hair can usually achieve permanent hair removal with 4-6 treatments every 4-6 weeks. People with fair hair will generally only achieve permanent hair reduction and after an initial course of treatment may need 6-12 treatments a month apart.
Light brown skin, sometimes burns, slowly tans to light brown (type 3) People with dark hair can usually achieve permanent hair removal with 6-10 treatments every 4-6 weeks. People with fair hair will generally only achieve permanent hair reduction and after an initial course of treatment may require 3-6 repeat treatments a month apart.
Moderate brown to dark brown skin, rarely burns, tans well or to moderate brown (type 4 and 5) People with dark hair can usually achieve permanent hair reduction with 6-10 treatments every 4-6 weeks. Maintenance will usually be required with 3-6 monthly repeat treatments. People with fair hair are unlikely to respond.
Re-treatments must be long enough apart to allow new hair growth to reach the level of the bulge.
ou will be advised to wear goggles during the treatment to prevent eye injury.
You will also experience some pain during treatment, especially the first few. This is mainly due to not removing all hair in the area to be treated before the procedure. Hairs missed while shaving absorb laser energy and heat the skin surface. There is less pain with repeat treatments at regular intervals.
Your skin will feel hot for 15-30 minutes after laser treatment. There may be redness and swelling for up to 24 hours.
More serious side effects include blisters, too much or too little skin pigmentation, or permanent scarring.
These generally occur in people with a recent suntan and the laser settings have not been adjusted. Alternatively, these side-effects can occur when patients are taking medications that affect their skin’s response to sunlight.
he type of laser not only influences how well it works, it influences your chance of side-effects.
Lasers suitable for hair removal include: long-pulse ruby lasers, long-pulse alexandrite lasers, long pulse diode lasers and long-pulse Nd:YAG lasers.
Intense pulsed light (IPL) devices are not laser devices but flash lamps that emits multiple wavebands of light simultaneously. They work in a similar way to lasers, albeit less effectively and they are much less likely to permanently remove hair.
To minimise the risk of damage to melanin producing cells on the skin surface, the choice of laser and how it’s used can be matched to your skin type.
Fair skinned people with dark hair can use an IPL device, an alexandrite laser or a diode laser; people with dark skin and dark hair can use a Nd:YAG or diode laser; and people with blond or red hair can use a diode laser.
To control the spread of heat and unwanted tissue damage, short laser pulses are used. The energy of the laser is also adjusted: it needs to be high enough to damage the bulge cells but not so high to cause discomfort or burns
o avoid possible side effects, all patients need to protect their skin from the sun. After laser hair removal, you should:
You will see some redness and swelling after treatment. This often looks like a mild sunburn. Applying a cool compress can help reduce your discomfort.
o, laser hair removal generally doe
s not require any real downtime. Immediately after having laser hair removal, your treated skin will be red and swollen. Despite this, most people return to their everyday activities.
ou will likely see the results immediately after treatment.
The results vary from patient to patient. The color and thickness of your hair, area treated, type of laser used, and color of your skin all affect the results. You can expect a 10% to 25% reduction in hair after the first treatment.
To remove the hair, most patients need 2 to 6 laser treatments. After finishing the treatments, most patients do not see any hair on the treated skin for several months or even years. When the hair regrows, there tends to be less of it. The hairs also tend to be finer and lighter in color.
ost patients remain hair free for months or even years. When some of the hair regrows, it will likely be less noticeable. To keep the area free of hair, a patient may need maintenance laser treatments.
he most common side effects are minor and last 1 to 3 days. These side effects include:
In time, skin color tends to return to normal. Some changes to skin color, however, are permanent. This is why seeing a medical doctor who is skilled in laser treatments and has in-depth knowledge of the skin is so important.
his varies from patient to patient. Removing hair often requires a series of laser treatments. Most patients can have laser hair removal once every 4 to 6 weeks.
Most patients see some hair regrowth.
asers play an important role in treating many conditions that affect the skin, hair, and nails. In recent years, many advances have been made in laser medicine.
One such advance is that more people can safely have laser hair removal. In the past, only people with dark hair and light skin could safely have laser hair removal. Today, laser hair removal is a treatment option for patients who have light-colored hair and light skin and patients who have dark skin. Laser hair removal must be performed very carefully in these patients.
Lip Chin, Ab Strip, Toes or Fingers, Glabella, Areola, Nose, Ears
Bikini Line, Shoulders, Breast (Women Only), Side Burns, Hands, Knees, Perianal, Front of Neck, Back of Neck, Underarms
Full bikini, Brazilian, Face, Half Arms, Lower Legs, Upper Legs, Inner Thighs, Upper Back, Lower Back, Buttocks
Unwanted facial and body hair can affect the way we feel, our social interactions, what we wear and what we do.
Options to camouflage or remove unwanted hair include plucking, shaving, bleaching, using creams and epilation (using a device that pulls out multiple hairs at once).
Longer-term options include electrolysis, which uses an electrical current to destroy individual hair follicles, and laser therapy.
Lasers emit a wavelength of light with a specific single color. When targeted to the skin, the energy from the light is transferred to the skin and hair pigment melanin. This heats up and damages the surrounding tissue.
But to remove hair permanently and to minimise damage to the surrounding tissue, the laser needs to be targeted to specific cells. These are the hair follicle stem cells, which sit in part of the hair known as the hair bulge.
As the skin surface also contains melanin, which we want to avoid damaging, people are carefully shaved before treatment.
Laser treatment can either permanently reduce the density of the hair or permanently remove unwanted hair.
Permanent reduction in hair density means some hairs will regrow after a single course of therapy and patients will need ongoing laser treatment.
Permanent hair removal means none of the hairs in the treated area will regrow after a single course of therapy and no ongoing laser therapy is needed.
However, if you have grey hairs, which have no melanin pigmentation, currently available lasers don’t work
The number of treatments you’ll need depends on your Fitzpatrick skin type. This classifies your skin by color, its sun sensitivity and its likelihood to tan.
Pale or white skin, burns easily, rarely tans (Fitzpatrick types 1 and 2) People with dark hair can usually achieve permanent hair removal with 4-6 treatments every 4-6 weeks. People with fair hair will generally only achieve permanent hair reduction and after an initial course of treatment may need 6-12 treatments a month apart.
Light brown skin, sometimes burns, slowly tans to light brown (type 3) People with dark hair can usually achieve permanent hair removal with 6-10 treatments every 4-6 weeks. People with fair hair will generally only achieve permanent hair reduction and after an initial course of treatment may require 3-6 repeat treatments a month apart.
Moderate brown to dark brown skin, rarely burns, tans well or to moderate brown (type 4 and 5) People with dark hair can usually achieve permanent hair reduction with 6-10 treatments every 4-6 weeks. Maintenance will usually be required with 3-6 monthly repeat treatments. People with fair hair are unlikely to respond.
Re-treatments must be long enough apart to allow new hair growth to reach the level of the bulge.
You will be advised to wear goggles during the treatment to prevent eye injury.
You will also experience some pain during treatment, especially the first few. This is mainly due to not removing all hair in the area to be treated before the procedure. Hairs missed while shaving absorb laser energy and heat the skin surface. There is less pain with repeat treatments at regular intervals.
Your skin will feel hot for 15-30 minutes after laser treatment. There may be redness and swelling for up to 24 hours.
More serious side effects include blisters, too much or too little skin pigmentation, or permanent scarring.
These generally occur in people with a recent suntan and the laser settings have not been adjusted. Alternatively, these side-effects can occur when patients are taking medications that affect their skin’s response to sunlight.
The type of laser not only influences how well it works, it influences your chance of side-effects.
Lasers suitable for hair removal include: long-pulse ruby lasers, long-pulse alexandrite lasers, long pulse diode lasers and long-pulse Nd:YAG lasers.
Intense pulsed light (IPL) devices are not laser devices but flash lamps that emits multiple wavebands of light simultaneously. They work in a similar way to lasers, albeit less effectively and they are much less likely to permanently remove hair.
To minimise the risk of damage to melanin producing cells on the skin surface, the choice of laser and how it’s used can be matched to your skin type.
Fair skinned people with dark hair can use an IPL device, an alexandrite laser or a diode laser; people with dark skin and dark hair can use a Nd:YAG or diode laser; and people with blond or red hair can use a diode laser.
To control the spread of heat and unwanted tissue damage, short laser pulses are used. The energy of the laser is also adjusted: it needs to be high enough to damage the bulge cells but not so high to cause discomfort or burns.
Before the treatment, the area to be treated will be cleansed. Some patients receive a numbing gel. Numbing the area to be treated helps when a small area will be treated and the skin is very sensitive. It takes about 30 to 60 minutes for a numbing gel to work.
The laser treatment will take place in a room set up specifically for laser treatments. Everyone in the room must wear protective eyewear during the procedure. To perform the procedure, the skin is held taut and the skin is treated with the laser. Many patients say that the laser pulses feel like warm pinpricks or a rubber band being snapped against the skin.
A laser removes hair by vaporizing it. This causes small plumes of smoke that have a sulfur-like smell.
How long your treatment lasts depends on the size of the area being treated. Treating the upper lip takes minutes. If you are having a large area like the back or legs treated, your treatment may last more than an hour.
To avoid possible side effects, all patients need to protect their skin from the sun. After laser hair removal, you should:
You will see some redness and swelling after treatment. This often looks like a mild sunburn. Applying a cool compress can help reduce your discomfort.
No, laser hair removal generally does not require any real downtime. Immediately after having laser hair removal, your treated skin will be red and swollen. Despite this, most people return to their everyday activities.
You will likely see the results immediately after treatment. The results vary from patient to patient. The color and thickness of your hair, area treated, type of laser used, and color of your skin all affect the results. You can expect a 10% to 25% reduction in hair after the first treatment.
To remove the hair, most patients need 2 to 6 laser treatments. After finishing the treatments, most patients do not see any hair on the treated skin for several months or even years. When the hair regrows, there tends to be less of it. The hairs also tend to be finer and lighter in color.
Most patients remain hair free for months or even years. When some of the hair regrows, it will likely be less noticeable. To keep the area free of hair, a patient may need maintenance laser treatments.
The most common side effects are minor and last 1 to 3 days. These side effects include:
In time, skin color tends to return to normal. Some changes to skin color, however, are permanent. This is why seeing a medical doctor who is skilled in laser treatments and has in-depth knowledge of the skin is so important.
This varies from patient to patient. Removing hair often requires a series of laser treatments. Most patients can have laser hair removal once every 4 to 6 weeks.
Most patients see some hair regrowth.
Lasers play an important role in treating many conditions that affect the skin, hair, and nails. In recent years, many advances have been made in laser medicine.
One such advance is that more people can safely have laser hair removal. In the past, only people with dark hair and light skin could safely have laser hair removal. Today, laser hair removal is a treatment option for patients who have light-colored hair and light skin and patients who have dark skin. Laser hair removal must be performed very carefully in these patients
Lip Chin, Ab Strip, Toes or Fingers, Glabella, Areola, Nose, Ears
Bikini Line, Shoulders, Breast (Women Only), Side Burns, Hands, Knees, Perianal, Front of Neck, Back of Neck, Underarms
Full bikini, Brazilian, Face, Half Arms, Lower Legs, Upper Legs, Inner Thighs, Upper Back, Lower Back, Buttocks
