Unfortunately, studies on laser hair removal during pregnancy are scant so it’s difficult to assess its safety for the unborn fetus. Most reputable clinics will advise waiting until after your baby has been born before initiating any treatments.
Hormonal changes during pregnancy can stimulate hair growth on sensitive areas like breasts and bikini line, making laser treatments less effective or delaying desired results. This may make laser therapies less desirable.
The best time to have laser hair removal is before you become pregnant.
Pregnancy transforms your body in many ways, including weight gain and changes to bladder control, hair growth where none existed before, and increased ingrown hairs on areas like your belly, chin and breasts (usually near the nipples). Many women find these unwanted changes especially bothersome; their weight may change significantly while bladder control decreases while hair may grow where none had previously. Some find the hair growth particularly bothersome and difficult to shave – particularly on your belly, chin and breasts (often near your nipples).
If you are considering laser hair removal to reduce unwanted growth, it would be wise to start treatments before becoming pregnant. Treatment entails having the doctor or technician aim a beam of light at an area to be treated, sending heat down each individual hair shaft and into its follicle. Unfortunately, during gestation skin and hair become more sensitive due to increased hormone levels and blood supply which makes follicles less responsive to laser treatments resulting in less efficient removal processes.
Laser hair removal only targets hair in its active growth phase, so if you had previously received laser treatments before becoming pregnant and then missed out due to pregnancy follicles not responding, treatments could actually cause your hairs to grow back more heavily than before due to hormone changes during gestation.
Pregnancy compromises the immune system and increases the risk of skin burns during laser treatments, potentially slowing healing times and leading to long-term scarring.
If you had laser treatments prior to becoming pregnant, it is safe to resume once the gestation period is complete and hormone levels have returned to normal. However, you will want to wait several months after giving birth to ensure your body and skin have fully recovered; in the meantime, shaving, waxing or plucking may help keep stray hairs at bay.
You may see an increase in hair growth.
Hormonal changes during pregnancy may lead to an increase in unwanted hair growth on the belly, chin, and breasts (around the nipples). While sometimes this excess hair will dissipate once your hormone levels return to normal following childbirth, in other instances it could become permanent features of your body.
Laser hair removal works by heating the pigment/melanin in your hair with the laser energy, with darker hair responding more than lighter ones to treatment. Therefore, laser treatments may be effective against dark hairs on legs and arms while less so against finer lighter hairs on chin or breasts that often form during pregnancy – thus it would be wise to undergo several laser sessions prior to becoming pregnant for optimal results. To increase effectiveness during your pregnancies, it would be a good idea to undergo multiple sessions prior to conception.
Pregnancy hormones can cause skin burns if laser treatments are done at the wrong time or on areas with very sensitive skin like around the nipples. Furthermore, pregnant women’s immune systems may become compromised, making healing harder while increasing risks of permanent scarring.
Reputable clinics will not treat pregnant clients for laser hair removal while they are pregnant – not out of any attempt to be difficult or tricky, but simply out of caution and care for their clients.
No clinical evidence suggests laser treatment has any detrimental effects on unborn babies; however, medical practitioners will always err on the side of caution and advise their clients to wait until after pregnancy is no longer an issue. As it can take several months for hormone levels to return to a more balanced state after giving birth, shaving, waxing or plucking might provide temporary hair removal methods until hormone levels return to a more steady state; at this time you can resume laser treatments safely for maximum results.
You may see less regrowth if you have had a full course of treatments before you become pregnant.
As she progresses through pregnancy, women will notice many physical changes affecting her body – some positive – like stronger nails and radiant skin – while some not so welcome such as increased hair growth. Many pregnant women want to reduce this presence of unwanted hair by opting for laser hair removal treatments; but is this safe for pregnant women?
Hormonal changes during pregnancy disrupt the normal hair growth cycle, meaning hair does not shed as quickly and may appear in new areas where none existed before. Due to these factors, laser hair removal treatments during gestation are less effective than would otherwise be the case.
Notably, certain anesthetics used during laser hair removal treatments should not be taken during pregnancy as they could transfer through breastfeeding and cause permanent damage to an unborn child. As such, most reputable clinics will not treat expecting women as part of a laser hair removal treatment plan.
Due to this reason, it is wise to wait until after pregnancy has finished before resuming laser hair removal treatments. While exact timing varies from person to person, three months postpartum is an ideal timeframe.
In the interim, temporary methods of hair removal such as shaving, waxing or tweezing may be safer during your pregnancy than using razors, which increase your chance of an ingrown hair or rash.
Immediately notify your clinic if you become pregnant during a course of laser hair removal treatment. Reputable clinics typically have clear policies regarding this matter and will often allow you to resume treatments once the baby has arrived.
You may see less regrowth if you have light skin and dark hair.
Laser hair removal involves having a technician aim a highly concentrated beam of light called a laser at unwanted hair follicles, where their pigment absorbs energy from the laser and turns into heat, ultimately destroying them. It’s important to keep in mind that pregnancy-induced pigment darkening – usually from melasma or post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation due to acne – may create challenges with laser treatments because their laser can’t differentiate between hair pigmentation and skin pigmentation and could result in burns or discolorations!
Pregnancy hormone changes may stimulate dormant hair follicles into activating, shortening their growth cycle and leading to an increase in unwanted hair growth. Therefore, it is advisable to wait until after birth when hormone levels have returned to normal before booking laser treatment courses.
Before your pregnancy begins, completing a full course of treatments should help minimize increased hair growth as this will have already destroyed most of the existing hairs that had previously been present. While higher estrogen and androgen levels can sometimes cause new hairs to come in unexpected places (particularly during the third trimester) but the new hair tends to be finer and lighter compared to what had been removed prior to conception.
Laser treatments should not be undertaken while breastfeeding as they pose risks for both mother and baby. Furthermore, exposure to sunlight may trigger hormone-triggered hyperpigmentation that may worsen hyperpigmentation during gestation. Due to how our bodies adapt during gestation, shaving, waxing or threading may provide better solutions.
At your clinic, it is also wise to discuss what will happen should you become pregnant during a course of laser treatments. Most will be happy to suspend treatment until after breastfeeding has finished so your hormones can return to normal before resuming treatments.
