Womens Health

Zap that Mustache

Laser hair removal uses laser energy to achieve a long term reduction of unwanted hair growth. Heat is produced in the hair and is then transferred to the hair follicle, producing inflammation. The inflammation sends a signal to the follicle to enter a resting or telogen phase.

Tricky Process

The laser is a light-producing device that emits pulses of high-energy light in a single color or wavelength that is directed to and taken up by the desired target. In laser hair removal, the target is melanin pigment that is contained within the hair shaft.

This is a somewhat tricky process since care must be taken not to damage the melanin pigment that exists within the surface of the skin. It's a matter of timing: the laser light must be used long enough to produce heat in the hair, but not so long as to allow the heat to spread to the surrounding skin. The darker the skin of the patient, the more difficult it becomes to avoid injury to the surface of the skin while treating the hair.

This is why there are three types of laser hair removal techniques in use today. A laser hair removal practitioner must consider with care which of the three techniques are the most appropriate for your specific hair and skin type. Your practitioner will assess the thickness of your hair and your skin tone in order to provide the most efficient and safe laser hair removal experience.

Use an Experienced Practitioner

In addition to lasers, practitioners also use intense pulsed light sources for hair removal. Such sources produce light containing many colors which makes the outcome more difficult to predict. That means you'll want to use a practitioner with lots of experience so as to avoid complications.

It's usual for laser hair removal to consist of a series of 3-5 treatments, four to eight weeks apart, depending upon the location of the unwanted hair. After these initial treatments, there will be subsequent treatment series, though the intervals between treatments grow longer as the goal of long term hair removal is achieved.

You may find that after a single treatment, hair amount and thickness are reduced for an extended period of time. In order to achieve the complete absence of hair, however, maintenance treatments will always be necessary. These may be needed once a year or perhaps less often. Factors that affect how often such maintenance treatments are needed depend on the area of the hair as well as the thickness of the hair and skin color.



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