Laser Hair Reduction

Hi everyone,

I am Dr. Rashmi Sharma. I am consultant dermatologist. So today I will talk about laser hair reduction. There is a reason we call it as laser hair reduction because there is no 100% suggestion of the hair but there is about 60 to 80% reduction in the number of the hair follicle. So what is the principle of a laser hair reduction? So when a laser beam strikes the hair follicle which is right beneath the surface of the skin it is taken up by the pigment forming cells or the melanin and with the series of laser session, there is destruction of the hair follicle. So now I will talk about various factors affecting the laser hair reduction. It depends upon the type of the laser and the parameters used. It also depends upon the hair colour and the skin type. It depends upon the stage of the hair. It also depends upon the hormonal profile of the patient and the site where it is being performed. So, the type of the laser which is approved by the US FDA is a diode laser or ND: YAG laser.

So nowadays you get there are recent advances and the recent advent of laser you get a recent diode laser which makes this relatively painless. Also the parameters depends upon are very important in the laser hair reduction. It also depends upon the hair colour and the skin type. So a person who has a fairer skin type and a darker hair respond better compared to a darker individual with a thinner hair and a lighter hair. So because in the fairer skin type we can give a more flounce to the patient. It also depends upon the stage of the hair. So at any given time hair can be either in a growing phase or anagen phase, telogen or a catagen phase which is shedding off phase of the hair. So if it is in a because the laser hair as you know the beam strikes the hair follicle which is present in the anagen because the pigment is only present in the anagen phase. Thus the reason we need so many sessions to get the successive laser hair reduction.

Also it depends upon the hormonal profile of the patient. You'd see many individual with a lot of hair on the facial area and a lot of pigmentation and with the irregular menstrual cycle, obese obese physique and also they have they can have a diabetic association and multiple cysts in the ovary which we call as polycystic ovarian syndrome. So before performing a laser in such individual, we need to get the hormonal profile done for them because if the hormonal profile are not normal then we all the aspects need proper treatment for the best result by the laser hair reduction.

It also depends upon the site where the laser is being performed. So if you do a laser hair reduction on a axillar area or a underarms area and a bikini area; those area respond better compared to the leg and the chest area. Also you give some instructions to the patient after the laser hair reduction. We ask them to avoid sun exposure and we also ask them to the sunscreen is advocated in all the patients after the laser hair reduction. Immediately after the laser you can get some little redness and a bumpy swelling on the face which is normal and it becomes ok after 3 to 4 hours and the icing also relieves it. We when you are getting the laser hair reduction we ask you not to go for any kind of plucking or threading process or any kind of bleaching. We ask you to only shave off the hair whenever it's needed and yeah. Also the duration between the two laser sessions varies from 4 weeks to 6 weeks.

So when we start we take a interval of 4 weeks, slowly the hair growth decreases so you can prolong it up to 6 weeks. The side effect of the laser hair reduction are absolutely null now because now with the recent advances and the recent laser you the burning and pigmentation chances are relatively less. So this is all about laser hair reduction. I hope you found this video useful.

Thank you.