Hair is important on the head and on the eyebrows, but most people, especially women dislike hair on other parts of the body, such as their arms, legs and underarms. While shaving or hair removing creams have been used for years, these are temporary solutions and for most women, it is irritating, time consuming and often difficult to keep investing money as well as time in removing hair in these methods.
However, in the past few years, newer methods of hair removal have emerged and many of these offer a longer lasting solution. Laser hair removal is one of them and in the recent past, this has become of the favourite methods with men and women, all over the world.
What is laser hair removal and how does it work?In the simplest of terms, laser hair removal is a process by which unwanted hair is removed by exposing them to pulses of laser light, since these complete destroy the hair follicle. The experiments in this field started in the 1970s, but the process became available to the public only in the 1990s. As a matter of fact, the very first papers regarding the subject where published in the late 1990s.
Today, however laser hair removal has become an accepted method of hair removal and people are choosing it as a lasting method. Salons and clinics all over the world are offering the laser hair removal treatment and now there are even smaller tools, which can be used at home.
The basic principle associated with laser hair removal is SPTL or selective photothermolysis. In this method, a specific wavelength of light and pulse are combined for a pre-determined time period. Laser light targets a specific chromophore, which in this case is the melanin pigment present in the hair follicles. When directed at a particular area, it thus affects only the hair follicles, with minimal effect on the surrounding skin.
Melanin is present in all human being, however, the composition varies from person to person, which is why the skin and hair colour of each person is different. Since the absorption process of photons is different, mostly, only black or brown coloured hair gets removed easily. This is why laser hair removal works best with coarse hair and light skin, which has dark hair. However, these days, newer machines are able to work well with dark skin and dark hair too.
While laser treatment might promise permanent hair reduction, there is always the chance of hair growing back over a longer period of time. However, this is certainly a good option for anyone who wants a fast and painless removal of hair for at least a few months or more. Given that the process has been approved by most authorities, the treatment is being used all over the world, with positive results.
How does laser hair removal compare with other methods of hair removal?Of late, there have been other methods of hair removal, most of them offering a long term solution. In this section of the article, we will attempt to compare laser hair removal with other such methods.
Laser hair removal vs electrolysis: The history of electrolysis is much older than laser - as a matter of fact, research shows that electrolysis has been around for over a century. Electrolysis uses the help of electric current to destroy the hair follicles. This method is not colour or skin specific, which means that it works on all skin and hair types. However, studies showed that laser hair removal was much faster and inflicted far less pain, as compared to electrolysis.
Laser hair removal vs intense pulsated light: Intense pulsated light and epilators work similarly, when compared to laser treatment. However, there were greater side effects, when it came to intense pulsated lights; but these side effects were temporary and disappeared over a period of time. Even though the two methods are similar and associated, the wavelengths in IPL are blocked. Modern day IPL systems are actually much more successful in hair removal, as compared to many lasers.
What are the side effects and risks associated with laser hair removal?There are certain side effects, which are normal post a laser hair removal session and these include redness, itching and swelling in the area where the treatment was focused. These are however, temporary and tend to fade away in the following days. In certain cases, there can be pigmentation on the skin or development of folliculitis and very rarely burns can occur .
There is a small amount of pain, but it is easy to apply some numbing cream, which can be purchased at any drug store. Ideally, the instructions of using such creams are given on the pack, but they can be applied around 20-30 minutes before the start of the procedure. It is best that you do a patch test of such numbing creams in advance, to make sure that there are no allergic reactions.
While there are tools that allow you to do laser hair removal at home, it is best that you head to you're a good & reputed cosmetology clinic, where the hair removal will be done under controlled conditions and monitored. Experts at such places will also know about the possible side effects and what needs to be done should the same appear, better.
Hello, I am Sumit. I am an author and writes blogs as well. I love writing blogs and books based on medical field. I aim at becoming a professional writer in this field only. My this article based on Laser Hair Removal
