Laser Hair Removal Knowledge Page

Introduction
Laser hair removal is performed using a 1064 wavelength laser, which is safe for all skin tones and is able to treat deep hair follicles. Treatments are performed at 4 to 6 week intervals to destroy the hair follicles. Only 20% of the follicles are in a growth stage that can be affected by the laser at any one time. After each treatment a new group of follicles will come up and be treated at the next session. Our device uses contact cooling, meaning a water-cooled crystal is placed on the skin and the laser shoots through this. The device also uses a computer to scan and treat the skin in a predefined and reproducible pattern. The scanner and the cooling work together to prevent burns and make the experience more comfortable for the patient.

More to tell you
Long wavelength lasers, such as the 1064 have become the gold standard for treatment of unwanted hair. The longer wavelength allows the beam to reach deeper into the dermis to hit the target hair follicles. Some hairs are too deep to be reached the Alexandrite or Diode lasers. The long wavelength also makes it safer for darker skin-types. If you do not have green or blue eyes, you are a person of color from a laser treatment perspective. Melanin gives the skin its color tone and can absorb energy from any laser used for hair treatments. This can lead to burns and pigmentation problems. Damage to the melanin producing cells can lead to destruction of these cells causing hypopigmentation, or no pigmentation; or over excitation of the pigment cells leading to too much pigmentation or Hyperpigmentation. In general, hyperpigmentation or darkening of skin patches is temporary while hypopigmentation or lightening of patches of the skin may be permanent. These worries do not exist in the 1064 world as more energy goes into the dermis and less affects melanin producing cells in the epidermis. Our device is also able to cool the epidermis during the treatment. We set the temperature to a specific setting for your skin type. This improves safety even further and makes the treatment more comfortable. Our device uses a computer to scan the skin and treat areas, which avoids over-treatment due to bean over lap and resultant skin damage.

FAQ

I had laser hair removal before but it did not work, why was that?

If the treatment looked like a flash of light you had an IPL treatment and not a laser hair procedure. IPL is limited in its ability to treat hair due to the risk of heat induced skin damage and therefore low energy is used. Our Clearscan laser goes deeper, and puts more energy down without risk of burns or pigmentation changes or discomfort. the other reason some treatments don't do well is that the energy can not be turned up enough or the width of the beam can not be adjusted which is crucial. the more coarse the hair, the longer the laser pulse width needs to be to "see it," Many machines are automated so the operator of the machine does not have to do much, this is a selling point to those who buy machines, but not a treating point for those more serious physicians looking for more successful outcomes.

I had a treatment and I thought I had more hair-growth after. What happened?

On the body, 20% of the hair follicles are in a growth phase at any one time. The laser affects these hairs. Sometimes when a light treatment is given, many other resting hairs are stimulated to go into an active growth cycle. You may have the appearance of more hair, but this will work out with the next treatment. This is more rare, but can happen.