subject: Working with Laser Hair Removal [print this page] Working with Laser Hair Removal Working with Laser Hair Removal
It is common for some people to do what they can in private to deal with the hair while suffering emotional distress in public because they generally suffer from the stigma of being different due to excessive facial or body hair. In the past few months, two more options for hair removal were given to residents, one uses laser technology and the other one uses a more advanced form of light treatment. Within the past few months, a family physician in Altoona has been doing laser hair removal. What she said was that lasers give off high energy light.
Here, the light does nothing to the skin but concentrates on the hair to destroy the hair follicle if you shine the light on skin with hair on it. With regard to this, it is different from electrolysis which puts a needle in each hair follicle and zaps it with an electric current making it tedious and painful. In treating an upper lip, electrolysis can be used but it can take 30 minutes while laser treatment will only take a minute. When it comes to this, two to three treatments are needed per area. With regard to this, she often does underarms, upper lips, chins, and bikini lines for women. In the case of men, they get hair removal on backs and necks and to thin out beards.
Since this is not ideal for dark pigmented skin and fine blond hair, to get the results they want some modifications need to be done when it comes to this procedure.
About $200 is the average cost when it comes to the initial consultation and first session. For follow up treatments, expect to pay about $200 for an area on the face and $350 for the bikini line or underarm. Negotiable in this case are the fees for larger areas such as the legs or back. Photothermolysis is the underlying technology of how physicians go after the target area. Expect hair follicles to be destroyed by the heat that is given off by the light source.
With regard to light waves, what they have are different frequencies similar to radio waves that have different frequencies. Just like someone who tunes in different frequencies to pick up different radio stations, the machine is similarly adjusted to get the correct light frequency for each person, based on the hair color, hair thickness and skin color. This is a type of machine that is about the size of a stacked apartment size washer dryer combination and to adjust the intensity of the light for each patient you need to change the filters. Usually, the light flash lasts about 5/lOOOths of a second and about 30 pulses of light are done during a treatment.
Like a stick of gum, a 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inch area is hit by the pulse. It is possible for a surgeon to do a lip and chin area or both cheeks during one session for thirty of those pulses equal about 20 square inches. In this case, get two to three treatments per area. When it comes to the follow up visits, have them about a month apart to allow time for the hair follicles to die and fall out. Activate the hairs that were in their resting phase with time because only active hairs can be treated here.
For this procedure, doctors call it permanent hair reduction or long term hair removal, not permanent hair removal. Here, minor skin irritation and minimal swelling are common side effects. For the side effects, they are temporary and as soon as the procedure is over patients can go back to their regular activities.
