Are there any precautions to take ?

Yes. Eyes must necessarily be protected, and the treatment is always adapted to your personal characteristics.

The assessment of skin sensitivity by the physician, and a laser test before the treatment are necessary to obtain good results.

The first factor to be assessed is skin colour. The Nd-Yag laser is indicated in the treatment of permanent dark skins, but will give less permanent results than an Alexandrite laser.

On lighter skins, tans will be evaluated. Suntans are the intimate enemies of laser hair removal. Indeed, skin melanin then absorbs most of the light beam before it can reach the bulb. Burns always occur on very tanned skins, whatever skin cooling system is used. These burns are never severe; however, the pain lasts a few hours, and is followed by the appearance of brown marks, replaced by white spots after a few days. Crudely speaking, the suntans are “scoured”. This discolouration is always transitory and disappears after a few weeks.

The size and pigmentation of the hair are the two next important factors. The more a hair is thick and pigmented, the more it will be able to generate heat, and thus to damage significantly the reproductive system in its bulb. It is important to assess the risk of stimulation for each case. An area with much vellus hair will present greater risks of stimulation. Indeed, this thin hair coat cannot store much heat. Even the most powerful lasers will generate with difficulty enough heat for such hair to be expulsed from the skin surface, but it will not suffice to damage the germinal cells. The hair reacts to the aggression by proliferating. Such stimulation can occur on areas of the face, of the anterior thigh, and on the body midline. The indication will thus have to be thoroughly determined by the physician for each patient. You now understand why laser hair removal is a delicate procedure that must be carried out by a health care provider.