Laser Hair Removal

Laser and light-based methods, sometimes called phototricholysis or photoepilation, are now most commonly referred to collectively as "laser hair removal". One of the first published articles describing laser hair removal was authored by the group at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1998. Over the years, this technology has dramatically changed. In the early years, the only way to get a light bright enough to do the job was to use a laser. For the ideal patient, the lasers worked quite well. For patients that were less than ideal, such as patients with blond hair or dark skin, the laser hair removal was not very effective and quite painful. To make laser hair removal more appealing to the public, cooling was added to the equipment. This made the treatment much more comfortable for a lot of people. It also allowed the doctors to use more energy with less chance of burning the skin to make the treatment even more effective.

Eventually, companies learned to produce equipment based on intense pulsed light (IPL) to try to duplicate the effect of lasers. The initial machines were under powered and had poor cooling making them less effective than lasers. Later models increased the energy and the cooling. Today, the best IPL device in the world, the Starlux 500 provides extremely effective hair removal which is also comfortable. The results are as good or better than laser based laser hair removal.

Treatment

Prior to your treatment, you need to avoid sun exposure as much as possible. Recently sun exposed skin is much more likely to be burned or blistered than skin that has not had recent sun exposure. Avoiding the sun for 2 weeks before your treatment would probably be sufficient. You should shave the area where you want your hair removed immediately before each treatment. Do not wax or pluck before your treatment for at least 2 weeks. In order for the laser hair removal to be effective, you have to have at least a small amount of hair in the follicle, but below the skin surface. Although laser hair removal is more effective on dark hair than light hair, dyeing your hair won't change the color of the hair below the skin surface, so don' t do it. You can expect to need about 5-6 treatments to get a 60-90% permanent reduction in hair. If your hair is light, or your skin is dark, you will need more laser hair removal treatments.

For more information about laser hair removal, give us a call at 561-795-SKIN(7546).