Laser Hair Removal Facts and Questions

Is the clinic owned and operated by a Physician?

Some clinics are operated and owned by non-physicians. You may never even meet a licensed doctor during your entire treatment period. It is important that every patient is evaluated by a trained, licensed doctor before any laser therapy. Treatment should be performed by a physician, or be directly supervised by a laser doctor.

False Guarantees and Promises

Some clinics or spas make false promises. It is impossible to honestly guarantee 100% permanent removal of every hair in a given area. Research presented at a recent meeting of the American Society of Laser Medicine and Surgery demonstrated that the occasional follicle may be too deep for current lasers to touch.

The truth about laser hair removal

The vast majority of patients are very happy with their results after 5–7 sessions, if the treatment is performed using the proper laser for your skin type, by an experienced and properly trained laser operator. Some patients require fewer sessions, some require more. Each person is different, because of the color of their skin, the color, texture and depth of their hair, and so on.

How does laser hair removal work?

The laser fires a powerful, yet gentle, specific wavelength of light into the skin. The pigment in the hair (melanin) absorbs the light, turning it into heat, which destroys the root bulb (the growing center of the hair). It is vital to cool the surface of the skin, and our lasers do this with a highly effective coolant spray those fires with each laser pulse. The hair that is destroyed at each session is permanently removed, there is re-growth between sessions because hair grows in cycles, so further sessions are needed to try and approach total clearance.

What is the most effective laser system?

There are many different devices being used for “laser” hair removal. Some, like Intense Pulsed Light (“IPL”) or radio-frequency devices (“RF”) are not lasers at all. Among the true laser systems, legitimate, peer-reviewed scientific studies consistently show that for lighter skin the Alexandrite Laser (755nm) is the most effective. For darker skin types, the ND-Yag Laser (1064nm) is the most effective.