Pregnancy can make women’s hair grow in places it never used to before, prompting many of them to worry about how the extra locks affect breastfeeding. While they might want to get rid of the extra locks, breastfeeding could become affected.
Question: “Can I undergo laser hair removal while breastfeeding?” Answer: Yes; however there are a few points to keep in mind.
Pain
Pregnancy can bring many miracles, yet also brings physical changes that alter your body in surprising ways. Pregnancy stretches out your stomach and breast tissue, leaving it tender and vulnerable – potentially making laser hair removal treatments uncomfortable and painful during this time period.
Your body may experience other discomforts during pregnancy, such as backaches or leg cramps. Women experiencing excessive hair growth during gestation may wish to employ traditional methods for hair removal but are uncertain whether this is possible while breastfeeding.
Good news is that no studies have linked laser hair removal with adverse side effects during this pregnancy; however, most professionals still recommend waiting until after giving birth before having this treatment done.
Hormones can alter your normal hair growth cycle and interfere with reaching desired results, possibly delaying final phase growth or increasing it more rapidly.
Hormonal imbalance can also alter your skin pigmentation, leading to the condition known as Melasma. This condition causes dark spots on your face or chest that you didn’t intend on getting, making nipple marks from breastfeeding more noticeable than ever.
As breastfeeding requires ingestion of medication and topical anesthetics, which could pass through breastmilk to affect their development in any adverse ways, as well as having laser treatments during gestation, it is wise to check with a healthcare provider first before undertaking these actions.
Sensitivity
After giving birth, hormone levels change drastically and many women notice new hair growth in areas they never had before (such as on their belly or nipples). Unhappy with this change and hoping to reverse it, many turn to laser hair removal treatments for permanent reduction of unwanted hair growth. While shaving, waxing, and threading offer temporary solutions, laser hair removal offers long-term reduction. It is wise to wait until breastfeeding has finished before beginning or resumed treatments as this gives your hormones time to settle after childbirth while giving yourself time adjust to treatment as well.
Be mindful that numbing agents used during laser treatments can pass through your skin into breast milk, potentially affecting breastfeeding babies and potentially leading to side effects like rashes or low fevers. As such, using such agents during treatments while breastfeeding should be avoided.
Not only should you consider the pain, but be mindful that fetuses are susceptible to the intense heat of lasers, and may be seriously injured if exposed during a laser hair removal session. Unfortunately, no studies exist regarding how laser hair removal or electrolysis affect the unborn baby; hence most doctors prefer taking an overly cautious approach and avoid these treatments during gestation.
Pregnant women should avoid laser treatment during gestation as well as any hair removal that uses galvanic current or electrolysis as these methods can cause skin bruising. Threading and tweezing may provide more permanent solutions.
Hormones
Laser hair removal employs selective photothermolysis – using laser light to heat and kill hair follicles with pinpoint precision. Unfortunately, skin and hair follicles may absorb some light spectra; therefore, there may be side effects including pain and changes to skin pigmentation.
Breastfeeding mothers may experience both of these, but they can often control and minimize them using local anesthetics like Lidocaine (which is used as an anesthetic in many numbing creams used during laser hair removal), without fear of adversely impacting their baby.
Laser hair removal poses no known contraindications for breastfeeding mothers, and does not appear to influence any hormones involved in milk production during lactation – prolactin or oxytocin being two examples – nor reduce milk supply or quality in any way.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding hormones can increase hair growth on specific parts of your body, such as your nipples and areola. Furthermore, pregnancy-induced hormones can trigger telogen effluvium–where hair that had grown during gestation suddenly falls out during postpartum–although this is normal and should return back to its regular levels about six months post-birth.
If you choose to undergo laser hair removal during pregnancy and breastfeeding, make sure you discuss it with the clinic in advance of starting treatments. Each clinic has their own policies when it comes to postponing treatments until after you give birth; some even request a physician’s note as it could be passed through breast milk into its system.
Medications
Medication may interfere with the effectiveness of laser hair removal while breastfeeding, potentially leading to side effects like skin discoloration and changes in pigmentation as a result of altering androgen levels in your body.
Other medications may alter how your body absorbs and responds to light used for laser hair removal, leading to an adverse or allergic reaction that requires you to use another form of treatment or delay it until breastfeeding has ended.
Although there is no clinical proof that laser hair removal causes harm to breastfeeding babies, most reputable clinics will refuse to treat you while breastfeeding – not because they’re being difficult, but to ensure both patients and babies remain safe.
Women may experience unwanted hair growth during and after pregnancy due to hormonal changes that take place during the second half of gestation, delaying hair shedding/fallout and leaving some permanent locks – something many seek treatment for after childbirth through Laser Hair Removal treatments.
Though laser hair removal may be possible while breastfeeding, we advise waiting until after giving birth for optimal results. This will allow your hormones to return to their usual levels and allow your body time to heal from childbirth’s physical stressors; additionally, some methods of hair removal can be quite painful and could potentially damage skin after all your hard work!
Side Effects
Pregnancy brings with it many physical changes for women; some can be beneficial (stronger nails and glowing skin) while others not so much (extra hair growth in unexpected places). Though waxing or shaving are effective solutions for unwanted hair removal, many pregnant women would like more permanent solutions such as laser hair removal to achieve permanent removal – unfortunately there has not been enough research conducted into its safety during gestation.
Medical experts typically advise women waiting until after giving birth before having laser treatments done on the chest and nipples where breastfeeding often takes place, as the sensitive skin there could result in additional irritation such as redness, swelling or discomfort from these procedures.
Laser treatments for hair removal involve using light to heat and destroy hair follicles, with skin tone matching that of the follicles for effective treatment. Hormones produced during pregnancy can alter skin coloration, making it more challenging for laser to target hair follicles correctly.
Another potential risk associated with laser hair removal is that topical anesthetic used can transfer to a baby through breastfeeding. While this doesn’t pose any immediate danger, it would be wise to eliminate any risk altogether.
People tend to assume that laser hair removal while breastfeeding will be safe because the light used during treatment doesn’t pass into the bloodstream and ultimately affect breast milk, but this assumption is mistaken; laser treatment uses photothermolysis light which targets specific areas, not all surrounding tissues.
