You will need to know the truth about laser hair removal, is it safe on darker skin? can you use it for blonde hair, gray hair or red hair? If you use it around the bikini area can it cause infertility, can you use it if you have moles or tattoos and can it cause skin cancer? I will be answering all of these questions and more below.
Overview
Laser hair removal is actually one of the most requested cosmetic procedures. And although we use that term laser quite a lot. I don’t think many people realize that laser is actually an acronym and it stands for. Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. now regular light is made up of different wavelengths and this scatters out and travel in different directions. laser light however is different from regular light because it’s made up of a single wavelength of light, and that single wavelength of light all travels in the same direction to form a narrow beam that’s extremely focused and precise. This means that high amount of energy is delivered exactly where it’s needed, although the uses of lasers are vast. In this article I’m just going to be focusing on lasers that are used for hair removal and actually there’s several of them, we also have a different type of light called IPL (Intense Pulse Light), and I’m mentioning it because I want you to know that it is not laser. Now the issue is that there are some clinics that claim that they’re offering laser hair removal, but actually what they’re offering is IPL hair removal. in IPL, the light source that’s used is a little bit like a large flash lamp, the wavelengths that are emitted are scattered and they travel in different directions so the light energy is not as focused. in true Laser however, the energy is more focused, is more precise, it means that you tend to need fewer sessions, there’s less risk of experiencing burns or problems with pigmentation, if it’s used in the right hands, I’m not saying that IPL is bad, it actually has a role in hair removal, I just disagree with the marketing as laser hair removal because it really isn’t.
So how does laser destroy your hair? Have you ever noticed in the summer that if you’re wearing dark clothes or black clothes that you feel really warm or hot? that’s because the clothes are absorbing the sunlight. it’s a similar principle with laser hair removal, let me show you how this would work, when you shine laser energy onto the skin, the dark pigment in the hair which is melanin will absorb the light from the laser and will be heated up, this heat will then be conducted down the hair shaft and will affect the matrix cells which will also become heated up and destroyed. This is exactly what is needed when laser hair removal is being done. Once the hair that’s already there falls out, new hair is less able to grow or can’t grow at all because the matrix cells are now destroyed. if some of them still persists some hairs may grow, but they tend to grow slower and less thick.
Laser hair removal works best on people that have pale skin and dark hair. This is because there’s a good contrast between the hair that needs to be destroyed and the skin that needs to be left intact. Traditionally we were told that laser is not good for skin of color and we’ve been quite scared actually to get any sort of laser work done because of the risks of the hyperpigmentation or worse still, the risk of suffering a burn.
Now we’ve got newer technology and actually it’s quite safe for darker skin types to have laser hair removal, if the right laser is chosen, and if the person operating that laser knows exactly what they’re doing. with darker skin tones, you have a lot more melanin in the skin. So this means that when you shine the laser on the skin, both the melanin that’s in the hair and the melanin that’s in the skin, are competing for this laser energy both will absorb the laser energy, and both will be heated up. in the hair, that’s good, that’s desirable you want that effect, But in the skin, you definitely don’t want that effect because heating up of the skin will trigger the melanocytes, which will form hyperpigmentation, and if the temperature gets too high you can get burns.
The best lasers for laser hair removal in darker skin types, is the Nd – YAG (Neodymium Doped Yttrium Aluminium Garnet) which emits a wavelength of 1064 nanometers. This is safer for darker skin types because that laser actually bypasses the melanin to the inner of the skin, and instead targets the melanin that’s deep in the follicle, as well as using an Nd-YAG laser for darker skin types, there are other things as well, that we can do to reduce the risk of causing problems with hyperpigmentation or burns. So, these include cooling the skin. Test patches on your skin may also be done because it will provide an idea about what levels of energy needed for your skin without causing irritation. sometimes specialist even have to use energy settings that are lower than what’s recommended by the manufacturer in order to reduce the risk of having problems with darker skin types.
In the correct hands, laser hair removal is very safe it’s used very commonly and it’s very effective, but as with all things, there’s always a risk of side effects, majority of side effects are actually quite minor and they’re temporary so they tend to improve over sort of 24 to 72 hours. one of the side effects can be discomfort. Most laser hair removal is either pain free or there’s just mild discomfort and people will often describe it as feeling like an elastic or rubber band snapping on the skin so you can further do things to reduce the amount of discomfort that you feel such as by using cooling gels or cooling sprays or cooling plates, when laser treatment is being conducted.
Laser Hair Removal Near Me
Incase if you are well convinced and you need a Laser hair removal near you, I have compiled the best specialist that can assist you greatly.
Milan Laser Hair Removal
Two Board Certified medical professionals launched Milan Laser in 2012. In each of its 130+ sites, their objective is to deliver state-of-the-art laser treatments in a safe, pleasant setting.
All of their operations are conducted by highly educated medical experts, and their therapies are completely safe. Their lasers are FDA-approved and customized to your skin type and hair color.
Address
5810 Wilmington Pike.
Centerville, OH 45459
Call: 937-701-7069