Using a laser intense light energy is directed into the follicles to eliminate them. This energy is so intense it permanently kills the hair follicles. But not all hair follicles can be destroyed in one laser treatment session.
That is because hair follicles cycle through active and resting growth phases. When hair follicles in the most active growth phase they are most susceptible to the effects of the laser.
Most people would like to completely eliminate, unwanted hair. Therefore, most clients will need to complete a series of treatment sessions with the laser. For most fair to medium skinned individuals with dark hair follicles, it will take 4 to 6 treatments for best results.
Medium to dark skinned individuals will most likely require more treatments. To understand why, remember that the laser light is absorbed by the dark matter in the hair and skin and converted into heat energy. This heat will be felt by the client as something similar to a sting, somewhat like a rubber band snapping on the skin. Medium to dark skin will react more intensely with the laser and for comfort and safety's sake, will require a slower, more gentle approach.
During the active growth period, each individual hair goes through 3 main cycles including Anagen, Catagen and Telogen. The first one, Anagen is the growing stage, and in this stage the root of the hair is the largest with an abundance of melanin and is attached to the root. This is the stage when hair can be best targeted with laser.
Anagen normally lasts several weeks, and at any given time, around 15-20 percent of the person’s hair is in Anagen stage.
The next stage, catagen is known as the transition stage. At this point, the hair has completed the growth stage and is the longest it could get. It retreated from the root and falls out on its own. Catagen stage may last anywhere between 2 days to a week.
The third and the last stage is the resting stage when the hair is neither growing nor shedding. At this stage, the hair is not visible and is completely detached from the root. This stage can be as long as a year or may last just a week before the Anagen stage sets in.
As we said earlier, hair in the Anagen stage is most susceptible to permanent damage caused by the laser. Hair growing in the other two stages may be damaged to some extent producing a slower and finer growth, but it is difficult to achieve permanent hair reduction.
For this reason, a series of treatment sessions are planned at a gap of 6 or more weeks so that several batcher of hair can targeted in the Anagen phase to achieve desired results.
The series of treatments also ensures that the pseudofolliculitis barbae, commonly known as ingrown hairs are also eliminated, which is a common condition in pubis and beard area.
The ingrown hairs are not only unsightly and hard to get rid of, but they also cause purplish or reddish discoloration and inflammation of the skin, along with some pimplish growth on the skin. When these ingrown hairs are eliminated using laser, it makes the skin clearer and relieves the person of the other discomforts caused by inflammation.
You can get this treatment on any area of the face or body. The newer laser devices are super fast and almost painless, so people are even going for full-body hair removal. The most popular areas for hair removal are upper lips, arms, under arms, legs, and bikini.
There are several things that you need to take care of before going for your appointment.
Although laser treatment may sound intimidating to some, but the ouch factor depends entirely on a person's pain tolerance, and lasers can feel anything like a gentle pinch to a snap of a hot rubber band or an uncomfortable stinging. However, thankfully, the sensation does not last for more than a fraction of a second. The skin area being treatment may become pink or reddish and may feel sensitive to touch. You may notice a swelling at the base of each hair known as perifollicular edema. This swelling is no more serious than a tiny mosquito bite and usually subsides within a couple of hours, and in some cases may last for a day or two.
After the treatment session, you may notice that the hair have become burnt or gummy, but it is eventually shed by the skin. After this, you may notice tiny hairs right below the skin surface trying to work their way out. This may look like tiny black flakes on the skin and it resolves on its own within a few days.
Some people may feel a hot and itchy sensation a few days after the treatment, and this is not due to the treatment itself but because of the ashen hair that is causing a reaction similar to an allergic reaction.
This discomfort can be relieved by applying cold compress, topical hydrocortisone cream or topical Benadryl several times a day for 2-3 days. The symptoms go away in a day not two at the most. Some people may also develop tiny bruise like marks after the treatment. Even though it is an intense reaction and is rarely observed, but it cannot be completely ruled out. At the start, these marks are pinkish and eventually turn purple and brown. These marks may become dry or flaky before they completely fade. One can use antibiotic ointment on the affected areas to prevent any infection.
At Bella Medspa, we take utmost care and employ best-in-class technology to make sure that the treatment is effective and there are no undesirable side effects. After the treatment, you will be able to notice burns on only a tiny fraction of the area that has been treated. During the treatment, laser beam is applied to burn or damage the hair follicles, but no damage is done to the surrounding skin.
The laser energy is absorbed by the melanin in the hair, but as the skin also contains some amount of melanin, it can absorb some energy. In order to rule out any such damage, we employ a cooling method during the treatment.
We use the Lumenis LightSheer which has a built-in cooling device at the tip, but for even better results we apply ice to the skin before, during and after each laser beam is applied. Also, we plan the treatments in a way that the intensity of laser is increased gradually at every subsequent session depending on how well the person’s skin has reacted to the previous treatment. It is important to note that even with the most careful approach burns cannot be completely ruled out.
Burns are however, not serious enough to cause alarm. The burn would look and feel like your skin feels after you have touched something hot or had a sun burn. The affected area may appear red and feel sore for a few hours. As with any other burns, it will become darker as it heals and the scab can peel or crack. It is important to keep the burn clean and avoid sun exposure to avoid any complications. Here are some things that can be done to relieve the discomfort and inflammation:
Although some people may experience temporary swelling or redness for about 24 hours, in general, there is no healing time required for this treatment. You may even experience some itchiness or a slight itchy sensation for a few hours. Some things that you need to take care of are:
Before you visit us for treatment, you may want to know the laser hair removal cost. At Bella Medspa in Philadelphia PA, we endeavor to provide the best services at most competitive prices. To make laser hair removal affordable to everyone, we offer attractive discounts and packages. You can check out our list of prices, and you will surely be surprised.
Hair grows in three phases—Anagen, Catagen and Telogen. Laser treatment damages the follicles of hairs growing only in the early stage of the Anagen phase. While you may see many (hundreds, thousands) of hairs growing in an area –whether it be the legs, face, underarm or back—only a percentage of those hairs are currently in the Anagen phase of growth.
As the laser is applied to the area for the treatment, all the hairs will be treated. However it is only those in the anagen phase that are susceptible to the permanent damage the laser can provide. Hairs growing in other phases may be burned or damaged to some degree, producing a finer or even more sluggish growth, but this type of result may or may not be permanent.
It is for this reason that a series of treatments should be utilized for those wishing to have a more thorough removal of hair in a treatment area. By spacing the treatments 6 or more weeks apart, several “batches” of hairs will ultimately be caught in the critical Anagen phase when the treatment is performed.
Since the anagen phase is relatively short compared to the other two phases of growth, those undergoing treatments will typically notice about a 15-20% reduction in the hair with each treatment.
There are several other factors which can affect the outcome of the laser hair removal treatment, for instance wavelength, pulse duration and spot size of the laser being used, however the basics are that the light is absorbed by the melanin in the hair, creating heat and damaging the hairs that happen to be in the Anagen growth phase when treated.
As the series of treatments remove the unwanted hair, a natural additional, and desirable, side effect will be an elimination of ingrown hair, or pseudofolliculitis barbae. This is a very common skin condition which is often seen in the beard and the groin (or pubis) area.
Because the hair is coarse and often grows in a swirl or curly fashion, the hairs have a tendency to curl back into the skin before (or even after) the outermost edge of the hair shaft breaks through the surface of skin. This results in inflammation, redness or purplish discoloration, and thick pimply-looking growths on the skin. These ingrown hairs can even become infected, causing further discomfort, increased unsightliness in the area and long term discoloration—even scarring.
Laser hair removal permanently removes the hairs so that they cannot continue to become ingrown. Get rid of the hair, and you get rid of all the inflammation that goes with it. Most people who suffer from redness and inflammation due to ingrown hairs or pseudofolliculitis barbae notice that the symptoms may initially get slightly worse for a week or two after the initial treatment, but that their skin soon has a noticeably smoother healthier appearance, along with less hair.
It can get rid of another unwanted side effect of unwanted hair. Pimples and other blemishes that occur from constantly touching the fingers to the face in an effort to feel for or remove stubble brings bacteria and additional oils to the face—which can potentially increase the incidence of pimples and blemishes.
While the lasers are very specialized and effective, there are some possible side effects and risks of treatment which should be spelled out. The settings on the laser will be determined based upon your base line (or natural) skin color, your current skin color, your ethnicity, whether or not you’ve had recent significant sun exposure, and the color and texture of your hair as well as some other parameters. The goal is an effective treatment that burns or damages the follicles, but that avoids any residual side effects to the surrounding skin.
At Bella Medspa, we may adjust your settings at each visit in an effort to provide the most effective treatment. Each time you visit us for a treatment, we will ask if you’ve had recent sun exposure, whether or not you are taking any medications that may increase your photosensitivity and we will ask you how your results are progressing so far. In addition, we will ask you about any side effects you saw since your last visit. The answers you give to these questions will help us tailor the treatments to provide the best treatment possible.
Typically, during the actual treatment, you will experience a very uncomfortable stinging or snapping sensation where the laser is being applied. Each of these sensations lasts for only a fraction of a second. Your skin will become pink or even reddish, will feel sensitive to the touch and you will most likely notice a raised area at the base of each hair known as perifollicular edema—or swelling. This looks like many very tiny mosquito bites, and will subside within 20 minutes to 2 hours, but can last up to a day or two.
The hairs will become burnt, ashen or even gummy and will eventually break apart and be shed by your skin. As this happens, you will notice the hairs just below the surface of the skin as they work their way out. Some people have described this appearance as “peppery”, as if tiny black flakes of pepper were flecked on the skin. This is completely normal and will diminish in a few days, but can take several weeks. Some people feel bothered by this and have attempted to use a loofah or scrub to remove the hair but it’s best to leave it alone. Your body will shed this material on its own.
Rarely we will get a call in our offices from someone who has recently received treatment stating that their skin feels “hot”, “itchy” and looks red. Often this issue developed 2 or more days AFTER treatment, when up until then everything had seemed fine. Here, the skin likely is reacting to the presence of the ashen hairs and is reacting in a way that is similar to an allergic reaction. In this case, we want to help the skin along.
With the application of cold compresses, topical Benadryl (or similar) and topical over the counter hydrocortisone cream several times a day for 2 to 3 days, you will notice these symptoms subside dramatically within just a few hours and nearly completely within a day or two.
Additionally, you may notice what appear to be very tiny bruise-like marks or similar after treatment. This is a more intense reaction than is typical for treatments, but it can and does happen. Because at Bella Medspa we take a careful and gradual approach to our treatments, we also rarely see this reaction, but understandably our clients may feel worried about such an unsightly and even uncomfortable reaction.
These bruise-like marks will likely start out as pink, then turn reddish, then purple and then brown before they fade completely over a few days and may even become dry or flakey and cracked at the surface of the skin. It is important not to pick at the skin as this heals. Keep the area clean, and use an antibiotic ointment on any areas that may seem dry or cracked. This will help with healing and prevent germs and bacteria from getting into any open skin.
In a careful and methodical approach as the one employed by Bella Medspa, burns to the skin will be seen only in a tiny fraction of those being treated. Remember, the goal is an effective treatment that burns or damages the follicles, but that avoids any residual side effects to the surrounding skin.
The laser bathes the skin and follicles in energy that is absorbed quickly and primarily by the melanin in the hairs. However, we all have melanin or color in our skin, and some of that energy is absorbed by the skin. This is why some sort of cooling of the skin must be employed when performing laser hair removal.
Bella Medspa uses the Lumenis LightSheer which has a cooling device built into the tip of the laser. But we also apply ice to the area as we treat, thus cooling the skin before, during and after each pulse. As we work our way through your series of treatments, we will adjust the laser settings gradually becoming more intense with each visit. As long as your skin has shown no ill effects from previous treatments, a gradual increase should not cause a burn in the skin, however even with the most careful approach burns can be seen.
If you’ve ever had a sunburn or even touched something hot enough to burn you, you know what that can feel and look like. A burn typically looks red and feels very sore for several hours. As it heals the skin can become darker and scabby looking, and the scab can crack or peel. Great care should be taken to keep the burn away from sun exposure as it heals and to keep the area clean, using antibacterial soap twice a day.
Topical hydrocortisone cream can help with discomfort and will reduce redness and inflammation. Keeping the skin occluded as it heals with a polysporin (or similar) ointment will help ensure the skin heals quickly. Keeping any scabbing intact and allowing it to dissipate and heal gradually will help to ensure that no long-term discoloration occurs.
Refraining from active suntanning and prolonged sun exposure during the entire course of your treatments is an important step in avoiding burns. Some medications, even herbs, can make the skin more photosensitive, and therefore increase the risk of a burn. Tell us if you are taking anything new at each visit.
Area must be clean shaven for treatment.
The area should be free of lotions, make-up, deodorant and other applications before arriving at the center..
Do not wax, tweeze, bleach or use depilatories for 2 weeks prior to treatment.
Avoid glycolics and Retin-A for 3 days prior to treatment (in treatment area only.)
Do not use tetracyclines, Zithromax or St. John's Wort within 2 weeks prior to treatment.
No Accutane for 6 months prior to treatment.
Your skin will be pink or red and may appear puffy for up to 24 hours. A slight stinging or itchy sensation may be felt for several hours. Do not expose treated area to the sun for prolonged periods for 2 weeks post treatment. Apply SPF 30 sunblock to treated areas that may be exposed to the sun for 4 weeks. Avoid irritating skin preparations on treated area for at least 48 hours. Hairs will fall out and/or dissipate on their own within 14 days. Follow-up laser hair removal visits should be scheduled at least 6 weeks apart.
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