From the late years of 1990s, laser hair removal has become a popular treatment for removing unwanted hair from the body. For best results and a satisfying experience, one should invest some time and do adequate groundwork to choose a specialist in the procedure. The clinic should be reputable, hygienic and sterile in order to avoid the risk of communicable diseases and the clinician who is going to carry out the procedure should have good credentials and be well trained, well-experienced and ready to deal with your questions openly. Dermatologists now recommend and widely practice laser treatment for ‘permanent hair reduction’. The efficacy still depends on the laser operator.

Laser removal can also be used to treat stretch marks and spider veins. The clinics generally offer other beauty and health related services to enhance the experience of hair removal treatment.

The hair removal sessions vary between a few minutes to an hour and depend on the area of the body involved, area to be treated, sex, hair texture, colour of the skin, and more. The procedure to treat hair follicles depends on the growth phase of the hair, multiple treatments may be required to completely disable and eliminate them.

Generally, laser treatment is performed on arms, underarms, shoulders, hands, legs, ear lobe, lip, chest, back, buttocks, abdomen, cleavage, toes, thighs, face and neck.

The treatment is very effective in the case of light colour skin and dark hair with a coarse texture. But finer hair on a darker skin requires multiple treatments for hair removal. About 3 to 6 sessions are sufficient to disable the follicles in a specified area but in some cases, patients go through as many as 12 sittings for satisfactory results.

The frequency of the treatment again depends on the area to be treated. Normally, sessions are spaced anywhere between 3 – 12 weeks depending on the fastness of hair growth. It takes about 2 – 3.5 weeks to shed the hair after the laser removal session. Following this, patients have to wait until enough hair grows to go for the next session.

A stinging sensation may be experienced while the laser beam falls on the skin. The latest technologies reduce a lot of discomfort by incorporating a cooling system to reduce heat from the skin surface. In a few cases, topical anaesthesia is applied on sensitive areas. General anaesthesia or pain killers are administered very rarely. During the procedure, it is advisable to wear goggles to protect your eyes from exposing accidentally to the laser beam.

After the procedure is over, a slight charring of the stubble causes a strong odour of the hair which dissipates over a period of time. Side effects are minor. Sometimes you may experience temporary swelling or redness due to the procedure. Bed rest is not generally mandatory and patients can resume their normal routine immediately.

The costs of the procedure vary with different states and clinics. Some of the procedures are based on flat fee and is charged per treatment or as a package while others are charged on ‘pulses’ which is based on the laser light emitted by the equipment on the skin surface.

Jonathan Pitts

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