What is Laser Hair Removal?
Until the last few years,
shaving, plucking, waxing, and electrolysis were the only methods of removing
unwanted hair. In the early 1990's, the first reports of using laser energy to
selectively damage and disable actively growing hair follicles were published,
and since the mid 1990's, laser hair removal has become the "Gold Standard"
method for hair removal.
How Does Laser Hair Removal
Work?
There are several laser hair
removal systems available today, but they all work using the principal of
selective photothermolysis, in which a carefully timed pulse of laser energy
passes through the skin and is absorbed and converted to heat energy at the hair
follicle. The generated heat energy is designed to destroy the hair follicle so
it cannot grow back.
Courtesy of: Valeria Campos,
MD
Courtesy of: Brian
Zelickson, M.D.
Who is the Best Candidate for
Laser Hair Removal?
Laser Hair Removal works best in
lighter skinned, darker haired patients. Because the primary target in hair
follicles is melanin pigment, less laser energy is absorbed by the skin and more
by the hair follicle. Tanned skin also "robs" laser energy as it passes through
the skin to the hair follicle. Because the pigment in the hair is the target for
the laser energy, gray or white hair (which lacks pigment) cannot be effectively
treated with any laser or light-based device.
Dr. Rothman performs laser
hair removal on a patient using the Lumenis Lightsheer Laser
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