If you’ve struggled with ongoing hair issues – and I don’t mean the hair on your head, laser hair removal is one of the best ways to be done with unwanted body hair once and for all. With laser hair removal, you’re using an intense, pulsating beam of light in the form of a laser to blast the hair follicles of the unwanted hair.
When the follicle is hit with the laser, it is damaged, keeping hair from growing back in that same spot. Over a series of treatments, the hair is damaged to the point that it simply stops growing in a particular area. For you, this means that the laser treatments are effectively stopping hair growth where you don’t want it to be.
Lasting Laser Hair Removal
Unfortunately, laser hair removal doesn’t work equally well on everyone. The most effective laser hair removal is done on individuals with fair skin and dark hair, and even then it takes multiple sessions to lessen and remove the hair in a particular area. Because laser hair removal is only a partially exact science, you can’t count on every single hair in an area being eradicated.
Instead, the heat blasts from the lasers help to stop hair from growing, but there’s no guarantee that you’ll be hairless forever in a particular area. As it is, there are multiple sessions required to get the results you’re looking for. Once you’ve removed or inhibited most of the hair, you’ll need to follow-up with periodic appointments to keep the follicles damaged as you move forward as well.
Why Laser Hair Removal
The standard of beauty in our country, and in most countries around the world is that women have smooth clear skin that is essentially free of visible hair. Most women choose to use laser hair removal on their legs, armpits, upper lip, chin and bikini line to remove the hair that would most commonly be shaved or waxed off. With the laser hair removal, however, removing the hair is a more permanent solution than waxing which can last only a few weeks at a time in many cases.
When you use laser hair removal, you’re focusing an intense blast of heat through a laser on the pigment in the skin. Those with fewer pigments, or melanin, have better luck with lasting hair removal. Laser hair removal is an option available to everyone, of course, but the darker the melanin in your skin, the more likely you are to find discolorations in the treated area as the laser damages the pigments in your skin to keep the hair from growing.
Since the laser focuses on highly contrasting hair, like dark hair on light skin, it is not as effective on light hair. It’s very hard to find satisfactory results with gray or blonde hairs when you’re trying to remove them with laser treatments. Simply, the laser can’t “see” the hairs. New techniques and methods of laser hair removal are being investigated to try and find ways to help women with lighter hair colors and darker skin tones remove hair on a more permanent basis without side effects or frustrations.
The Risks of Laser Hair Removal
As with any surgery or surgical procedure there are certain risks you’ll need to account for. With the laser treatments, you’re not guaranteed a permanent result, although in most cases, the results are significant and lasting, especially if you take yourself back to the doctor occasionally for an update and follow- up appointment. There is a chance that hair will grow back in after a treatment, but because the hair follicles are damaged, the hair that grows back in will almost always be finer and lighter.
This means, however, that it is harder to remove the regrowth because laser hair removal isn’t as effective on lighter hair since the laser targets the contrast in colors between dark hair and light skin. Outside of the regrowth, you can expect other side effects as well following a treatment. The most common skin side effects include:
Skin irritation. Your skin is blasted with a hot pulse of light during treatment, so after treatment, it’s reasonable to expect your skin to have temporary irritation, crusting, scabbing and other general areas of redness and even soreness while your skin heals.
Changes in skin color. The laser works by targeting the pigments, or melanin, in your skin. If you have darker pigments in your skin, you’re more susceptible to changes in your skin color in the treated area. The skin you’ve blasted with the laser may darker or lighten, although the results are usually temporary.
If you have darker skin, you can generally expect some lightening in the area treated. In most cases, dramatic lightening is due more to using the wrong laser at an incorrect setting during the treatment,. Be sure to seek out an expert who has worked with women with your skin color and tone before.
Scarring. In some rare cases, you can be affected by scarring and blisters following treatment. These are not common side effects, but when they do occur, you can expect some change in the texture of your skin as well in the treated area.
Preparing for Laser Hair Removal
Any time you’re considering a significant procedure like laser hair removal, you want to select a doctor who has ample experience in the area, perhaps even a specialization in dermatology or a cosmetic surgeon. In some cases, you’ll be more likely to have an appointment with a physician’s assistant rather than the actual doctor, so in these cases you’ll want to be absolutely certain that the attending physician is supervising the appointment and is on-site during your laser hair removal to answer any questions you may have as well as being available for any situations that arise during the process.
Laser hair removal is a form of surgery and should be taken as seriously as you would other surgery options. To this end, you don’t want to walk into a salon and look for an technician to wield a laser on your behalf. In fact, you never want to do laser hair removal out of a professional medical setting.
Before your appointment to actually receive laser hair removal, you can expect a consultation with your doctor. During the consultation appointment, you can expect the doctor to review your medical history and background including any medicines you currently user and any you’ve used in the past. You’ll also discuss the risks and the likely outcomes of the procedure as well as the specific treatment plan for your particular skin type and hair growth.
The cost of laser hair removal will be covered at your appointment as well, and finally, before you leave from your consultation appointment, you can expect the doctor to take pictures of the area you’ll be treating so that you can do a before and after assessment as well as keep the original area for review as you assess the effectiveness of the treatment over the long-term.
Once you leave the doctor’s office, you’ll likely be armed with a few guidelines to follow before your appointment. Most of these guidelines have to do with keeping your skin in the most natural state possible before your appointment.
Avoid the sun – the last thing you want to do before your laser hair removal appointment is throw off the pigmentation of your skin. When you allow your skin to tan, or worse, to burn you’re darkening your skin and that makes the laser hair removal less effective as the laser targets the differences in color between the darker hair and the lighter skin on your body.
Having a tan or sunburn also makes it much more likely that you’ll experience side effects of the laser hair removal. If you do wind up with a tan, allow it to fade completely before you undergo laser hair removal.
Don’t wax or pluck – removing hair by the roots can damage the skin’s hair follicle and make it harder for laser hair removal to work correctly. Any hair treatment that can disturb the hair follicle is generally dissuaded before your appointment. If you are worried about visible skin, however, you can do a great deal to prevent the visible hair by shaving.
In fact, some studies have shown that shaving your hair is actually better for laser hair removal. If nothing else, shaving will keep your visible hair under control without damaging the hair follicle while you wait for the actual laser hair removal.
Laser Hair Removal
Once you actually go into for laser hair removal, you can expect to be outfitted with goggles to protect your eyes from the laser. You’ll also be given a topical anesthetic in most cases, since laser hair removal can be uncomfortable. Be sure that you allow the doctor to apply the anesthetic or follow his instructions to the letter if you’ve been told to apply the anesthetic at home beforehand.
The actual laser hair removal happens simply enough:
• The doctor will hold a laser instrument to your skin. Your skin will likely be kept cool with a cooling gel or a specialized cooling tip on the actual laser handheld.
• Once the laser is activated, the beam will go through your skin just under the first few layers to the hair follicles where your hair growth begins. The laser is intensely hot on these follicles, and the area is damaged. This prevents new hair from growing in and causes the current hairs to become damaged and fall out.
• Small areas might take less than ten minutes. For example, the upper lip will take considerably less time than the legs or the bikini area where hair growth is dense. Larger areas can take hours of work to remove hair.
• Once the laser hair removal is complete, your skin will be understandably sensitive and red. Your skin might continue to sting for a few days after you undergo the laser treatments and it’s also very normal for your skin to become a bit crusty.
• Your skin will begin healing immediately after the procedure, and during this time you should wash the affected area with a light soap and water treatment. Do not scrub at the skin as this will irritate it more, even if it is crusty and you’re anxious for your skin to appear smooth again.
Be patient and wait for the best results. Stay out of the sun as well during this recovery period, or at the very least the first week. Stay out of the sun completely, including tanning beds, during this time. After the first week, you can go back in the sun, but you’ll want to be sure to wear a coat of sunscreen to protect your skin every time you’re in the sun going forward.
Ongoing Laser Hair Removal
Very few people are satisfied with the results of the treatments after just one visit. You will need four to six treatments over a period of weeks to adequately remove the bulk of the hair. You should also expect to go back to the doctor to follow up on the laser hair removal every six to twelve months to insure that the treatments are working as expected and that hair is not growing back in the treated areas.
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