Laser hair removal uses heat from a medical-grade laser to target melanin and destroy hair follicles, ultimately inhibiting future hair growth. It is generally safe and effective.
However, this treatment can lighten some people’s skin and this article will explore both its causes and possible solutions to mitigate this side effect.
Darker Hair
Laser hair removal is a noninvasive and painless way to permanently reduce unwanted body hair. While safe for most individuals, some may have concerns that laser treatment might lighten their pubic area. Although this side effect is rare, if your pubic area experiences any change in color it’s important to understand what causes it and how best to treat it.
Darker hair makes it more challenging for laser treatments to identify pigment in your follicles. As a result, laser treatment may accidentally burn skin areas leaving dark patches or spots known as hyperpigmentation – more likely with at-home tools than medical aestheticians performing laser treatment sessions.
There is a way to prevent this from occurring: Trim and shave the area before your appointment – this will reduce skin damage caused by burned hairs – as well as refraining from using products which darken skin tone (sunless skin creams), plucking or waxing your hairs.
Before beginning laser treatment, a licensed medical professional will review your medical history to identify the source of hirsutism. After making their assessment, they will recommend the optimal settings and laser settings based on your skin and hair type, while they may suggest taking medication to decrease testosterone levels if you suffer from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
At this stage, an experienced medical aesthetician will use pulses of laser light to disable unwanted hair follicles in targeted areas. While the procedure should be safe for most men and women alike, it’s essential that all potential complications be considered carefully prior to proceeding with any procedure.
Most people require multiple sessions before seeing noticeable results from laser therapy, with the number of treatments depending on your hair thickness and color as well as how your body reacts to it. Following your initial treatments, maintenance sessions must also take place once or twice each year in order to keep up the momentum and stay effective.
Your unwanted area should soon see less hair growth, with any that does appear being lighter in texture and color. Unfortunately, fluctuating hormones can bring it back again so additional treatment sessions may be necessary at times.
Lighter Hair
Laser hair removal works best on those who have dark hair and light skin because the difference in colors allows your pigment to absorb heat more readily from the laser, while hair that’s blonder, grayer or white will not respond as they don’t contain enough melanin for treatment by laser. Unfortunately, natural or artificial tanning reduces this contrast and renders this treatment ineffective.
Laser hair removal uses an intense beam of light to penetrate your pubic area and destroy hair follicles without harming any surrounding tissue or creating ingrown hairs or razor bumps. You may require multiple sessions before seeing results, but after that your unwanted hair should stop growing altogether.
Laser hair removal offers another advantage of lightening up the appearance of your pubic area, especially if you have black or brown hair. By getting rid of unwanted hair, laser treatments eliminate shaving or waxing altogether – which often leads to irritation and redness if done regularly.
Laser hair removal takes only minutes for smaller body areas and uses topical pain relievers before beginning. A dermatologist will apply one before commencing.
After your laser treatment, it is essential that you abide by any instructions from your dermatologist in order to reduce risk of side effects such as hyperpigmentation (darkening of skin). Furthermore, tanning beds and sun exposure should be avoided post-treatment in order to decrease hyperpigmentation risk.
As part of your treatment, protective glasses or goggles will be worn to shield your eyes from the laser beam. In addition, your doctor may require that you shave the area being treated two or three days prior to appointment and avoid picking, scratching, or tweezing hairs that come out afterward as this could expose vulnerable tissues to infection and lead to crusting that doesn’t heal as effectively.
Darker Skin
General, laser hair removal is generally safe when administered by a licensed professional, although some skin types may experience adverse reactions such as changes to pigmentation of their skin tone or sensitivity issues that necessitate customized treatment planning to minimize risks. Evaluating an individual’s skin tone and sensitivity enables personalized treatment planning in order to mitigate such risks as well.
Laser hair removal, commonly referred to as photo-thermolysis, works by using laser light to target melanin pigment in your skin and hair and destroy the follicles responsible for growth. When the laser light passes over your skin, pigment absorbs energy from it to generate heat that destroys follicles without harming surrounding tissue; darker-hued hair absorbs more light than lighter locks due to higher pigment density levels.
If you have an extremely dark complexion, laser hair removal may cause some side effects, including redness and temporary changes to skin pigmentation. These side effects can often be reduced by following pre- and post-treatment instructions from your dermatologist or laser specialist.
Before your laser treatment session, it is advisable to avoid products which darken the skin, such as sunless creams. Your dermatologist may prescribe bleaching cream prior to laser sessions if your skin has recently tanned; pregnant and breastfeeding mothers should also not get laser therapy treatments.
After receiving laser hair treatment, it is wise to refrain from picking, scratching or waxing treated hairs as this exposes sensitive skin to infection and can result in scarring. Instead, allow for the hairs to naturally fall out.
Your skin should generally return to its normal tone over time; however, if your skin is particularly sensitive it may take longer for laser therapy treatments to work their magic and heal fully.
Karavolas suggests there is now a laser technology which is suitable for people of all skin colors. Called Nd:YAG wavelength laser technology, it bypasses the surface layer of your skin to target only deeper melanin in hair follicles – thus offering safest possible hair removal results for people with dark complexions or sensitive skin.
Lighter Skin
Laser hair removal works best when there is a contrast between hair pigmentation and skin tone. Hair that is darker will absorb laser energy, damaging it and inhibiting further growth. Ideally, energy will be trapped by melanin instead of being scattered across nearby cells – otherwise lightening may occur instead of hair reduction; this issue may often be avoided by selecting an appropriate laser type and consulting with an experienced cosmetic dermatologist.
Laser hair removal works by passing laser light through the skin to damage or kill hair follicles, creating permanent reduction in growth of unwanted hair. Lasers may also be used to treat other benign conditions like acne and atopic dermatitis (eczema), as well as permanently lightening tattoos or freckles.
Although some individuals report seeing their skin tone lighten after laser hair removal, this is not usually a side effect. More frequently encountered reactions include itching and red, pink or swollen skin in the treatment area; more rarely blistering may occur; in such instances treatment with an ice pack or mild steroid cream should provide relief within one or two days.
Laser hair removal can be a relatively painless procedure for most patients. Treatment time for small areas, like upper lips, takes just minutes; larger ones like back and legs may take up to an hour. A topical anesthetic may be applied prior to each session to minimize discomfort.
Laser treatment for hair removal is quicker and more convenient than shaving, waxing or tweezing in terms of both speed and convenience. Within just a few sessions most patients notice a noticeable reduction in pubic area hair count with finer and softer locks being left behind compared to before treatment; lasting much longer than shaving waxing or tweezing treatments thus saving both time and money over time.
