Permanent Laser Hair Removal

If you’re tired of shaving your legs or underarms and wish for a permanent solution for unwanted hair, you may want to consider permanent laser hair removal. This method of treatment has been around for quite a few years, but was still being perfected and developed. It was once very expensive and limited only to certain individuals with the correct hair and skin colors, but now almost anyone can find long lasting results through permanent laser hair removal.

Laser hair removal uses light that is calibrated at a specific wavelength to remove hair and stun the hair follicle. By affecting the hair follicle, this treatment does more than simply remove hair that is already grown. It actually acts to stop hair from regrowing, or at least causes it to grow much slower when it does reappear. The hair also grows back lighter and finer, which looks less obvious and is easy to remove again.
Although the laser causes damage to the dark colored hair and follicle, it does nothing to the surrounding skin or flesh. When laser treatment was first developed for hair removal, it could only be used on pale individuals with a light skin tone that had dark hair. The laser is calibrated to damage only the dark hair, so people with dark skin or very lightly colored hair could have skin or tissue damage from the laser. With the new developments in laser technology, the difference no longer has to be so great. People with darker skin tones and lighter hair colors can now enjoy safe and effective laser hair removal.

Although the word permanent is used to describe this treatment, it does not mean that the hair can’t grow back. But it does mean that hair will be gone for a long period of time, usually at least 6 months, and in some patients it will never grow back. If if does return, it’s easier to remove, and subsequent laser treatments raise the chance of it being eliminated altogether and being unable to grow back. Pale individuals with dark hair still have the best chance of truly permanent hair removal from this method, but even people with dark skin can experience 6 months or a year without having to shave or wax their legs.

The permanent laser hair removal procedure is done by a trained professional. Both the patient and the technician must wear eye protection, and the skin is often coated with a protective lotion to minimize the risk of damage during the treatment. The device used is a small hand held laser device that is pressed to the skin, then triggered. The laser flashes, removing any hair and stunning the follicle, and then is moved to the next portion of skin. There is a small amount of irritation, usually a light burning sensation, but almost all people who have received this treatment were able to handle it without pain relievers. This treatment works especially well on large portions of the body, such as the back or the legs.