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All About Laser Hair Removal

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Your options for removing unwanted body hair have multiplied in recent years thanks to technology and new home devices. While waxing and shaving offer good solutions, sometimes their limitations can be frustrating, especially for those who want a permanent solution.

Now, thanks to laser hair removal solutions, you can be rid of unwanted hair for good, or at least for much longer stretches of time. While laser hair removal aims to completely eradicate hair from the target area, in some notable cases such as hormonal changes prompting hair growth, hair might resurface.

However, the use of laser solutions offers some of the best results for lasting hair removal.

Who Needs Laser Hair Removal

You might need laser hair removal if you are experiencing unwanted hair growth on any part of the skin. This would be true, for instance, if you have unwanted hair on the legs, hands or face. Another case is when abnormal hair growth occurs on a part of the body that does not tend to have hair growth.

In some instances, for example, women having abnormal hormonal stresses have experienced hair growth on the chin or forelip. This is a hair growth pattern commonly experienced by men but uncommon for women. In such cases, laser hair removal can help eliminate the sometimes with permanent results.

How It Works

Laser hair removal is based on highly concentrated laser beams of light. During the treatment, the light laser is beamed at hair follicles. When the pigment in a follicle absorbs the light, the hair follicle heats up. The heat produced by the conversion of light energy to heat results in the permanent destruction of the hair follicle.

While laser hair removal can achieve permanent hair removal, typically, multiple treatments are required to ensure permanent results.

What You Should Do Before Laser Hair Removal

While laser hair removal is mostly used as a cosmetic procedure, it is a complex, risky activity that should be done in consultation with a medical professional. If the procedure is done by an untrained person, it could burn the skin or leave scars on the skin.

You should therefore consult with a dermatologist or other qualified medical specialist in a hair removal clinic. The doctor will assess if laser hair removal is safe and appropriate for your situation.

Before the treatment, you should cease all hair waxing to allow the hair follicles to develop so they can be targeted during the procedure. Follow any other instructions as provided by your doctor.

How Much It Costs

Since laser hair removal typically involves multiple sessions, costs vary widely. The average session costs anywhere from $200 to $250. You may pay more or less depending on your location as well as the part of the skin from which hair needs to be removed.

Home-based gadgets such as the Iluminage Touch also exist. Using home-certified devices can lower the cost of laser removal but some important caveats must be observed. Never use these devices for purposes they are not intended for, or contrary to the instructions of the manufacturer. You might otherwise cause irreparable harm to yourself or others.

How Laser Hair Removal Compares to the Alternatives

Alternatives to laser hair removal include waxing, plucking and shaving. Compared to these alternatives, laser hair removal has some obvious advantages. It achieves long-lasting results that are not achievable with any of these other options. This means you can stop shaving nearly permanently.

In addition, unlike waxing and plucking, laser hair removal involves a lot less pain. Your skin will be numbed ahead of time to make the process nearly painless.

The use of lasers for hair removal also achieves higher precision and can be more thorough than the other solutions.

Potential Drawbacks of Laser Hair Removal

Despite its notable advantages, laser hair removal does have some drawbacks you should be aware of before submitting to the treatment. Firstly, the unclear state of licensing from state to state means that patients might be treated by inexperienced personnel. This carries the risk of incurring burns or scars on the skin should something go wrong.

Another drawback is that patients with dark skin have a harder time getting excellent results. The lasers target dark hair follicles. In patients with light skin, these are easy to distinguish from the rest of the skin. In darker-skinned patients, however, normal skin cells might be mistaken for hair follicles and burned as well.