December 20 2007, 1:35 pm PT | Posted in: Other
Hi Doc
I was thinking of laser hair removal of my chest, neck and parts of my back. I was just wondering, do these repeated laser procedures cause any harm to the skin, short and long term. Also, I understand waxing is painful and may take time, but could it really be permanent.Thanks.
I am not completely familiar with laser hair removal or even hair removal in general, as my practice involves adding hair, not removing them. From what I know, laser hair removal can irritate the skin and it is a relatively painful procedure usually requiring more than one treatment to get complete hair removal, because hair that is in telogen will not be killed from a laser treatment. When this hair finally gets out of telogen, it then has to be lasered. About 40-70% of body hair (depending upon where in your body we are talking about) is in telogen at any single time, so multiple treatments to kill off this hair is totally logical. You should ask these questions to the doctor who will be performing your laser hair removal, as I am not an expert in this process by any means.
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I have had laser hair removal performed on my ears and upper back area. Probably about 4-5 times. Initially there is some redness and a little bit of stinging in the areas that have been treated. The doctors usually reccomend using a sunscreen on the treated areas for a few days after the treatment if you will be in the sun for any extended amount of time. I have not noticed any type of skin damage due to these treatments. Most doctors have a numbing cream that can be applied prior to treatments which alleviates the initial pain and/or stinging. Please note that the laser hair removal only works on dark colored hairs. Not the peach fuzz.