Lasers are used in many fields for surgery, for example Lasik for eye surgery. It is also used for the rapid and gentle removal of unwanted hair. This technique is not for everyone and their proper use requires great expertise. If you are contemplating laser hair removal you need to learn about this field to properly evaluate if and where to have laser hair removal performed.
There are many competing technologies, some working very well and some that are already outmoded. They can all offer particular advantages for certain patient populations. Learn more here so you can decide if you are a candidate for laser hair removal. You will also find some answers to the most frequent questions concerning this new advance.
Laser hair removal is not for everyone and the absolute requirement is that your hair must be darker than the surrounding skin. Furthermore very darkly pigmented people absorb too much laser energy in their skin so they are not the best candidates for laser hair removal. Tanned persons with light hair are no good candidates and tanned persons with dark hair should wait until their tan fades before they are treated. Finally the cost for the treatment should be within reach of the patient. Laser hair removal is less expensive than electrolysis but it takes multiple treatments so generally the cost will be more than $1000 in total for most anatomic areas.
The cost varies of course with the size of the area treated. Many laser centers, which have developed expertise in laser hair removal, generally average about $500 per treatment session, with an average of four treatment sessions initially recommended. If the treated areas are large, such as the entire back or the entire legs, the cost will be considerably more. And for small areas, such as the upper lip, the cost will be less. Before the treatment starts you will have an indication of how much the total cost will be.
If you have a light skin it will be easier to perform laser hair removal. The number of treatments will be fewer and the result will be better and obtained faster. For persons with darker skin the treatment will make a good result but it will take more sessions. Experienced personal will be needed as laser hair removal must be individualized for each patient.
A dark hair absorbs more laser energy and is therefore easier to treat and a coarse dark hair responds the best to laser treatment. Light hair is more difficult to treat effectively and blonde or red hair is very difficult to treat. Here are multiple treatment sessions required and the results vary more.
There are some areas that cannot be treated, for example adjacent to the eyes. Most patients request laser hair removal from the face, upper lip, neck, chest, underarms, back, abdomen, bikini line and the legs.
For the newer lasers there is clear documention of permanent hair reduction after each treatment and the FDA has approved several lasers for permanent hair reduction. The results seem to be additive so that more treatments lead to greater degrees of permanent hair reduction. As always it is hard to predict the results precisely. they can vary some but generally the modern lasers produce a very good result.
