As a woman, shaving is one of the most time-consuming parts of your routine. Have you finally reached the point of wanting to ditch your razors and expensive waxing appointments? If so, laser hair reduction could be your dream come true. With just a few treatments, you’ll significantly reduce how often you have to shave or wax.
Defining Laser Hair Reduction
Laser hair reduction uses a laser to slow the growth of unwanted hair by damaging the hair follicles with intense heat. Damaging the follicle reduces how much hair can grow in the future. Unfortunately, many people believe that laser hair reduction permanently removes the hair, but it only slows down how fast the hair grows. Some people respond extremely well to the laser and find they never have hair growth again, but the vast majority simply see a reduction in growth. One treatment won’t produce results, either. If you’re looking for an extended period of being hair-free, you’ll need multiple treatments. How many you need depends on how thick your hair is and how the follicles respond.
What Areas Are Typically Treated?
The most commonly treated areas are the legs, underarms, and the bikini area. Technically, laser hair reduction can reduce hair growth on almost any body part except the eyelids or the delicate skin surrounding the eyes. The success of the laser depends a lot on your hair type. The laser targets the pigment in the hair, so darker hair will be better affected. As of now, laser hair reduction technology isn’t effective if you have white, gray, blonde, or red hair simply because the laser can’t “see” the light colored hair.
How the Procedure Feels
Laser hair reduction is not a comfortable procedure, unfortunately. We will work to minimize any discomfort as much as possible.
After the Procedure
We will recommend applying ice to the treated areas to reduce the swelling and alleviate any discomfort. If you had any skin reaction afterward, you might be given a steroid cream to apply to the irritated skin. You need to avoid direct sun exposure and tanning beds until your skin is healed, and using sunscreen if you’re going outside is a must. The skin will be very sensitive to the sun, and you could end up with a pretty bad sunburn if you aren’t careful.
Permanently removing your hair is quite difficult, if not impossible! If you can be satisfied with reducing how often you have to wax or shave, this is a procedure worth looking into! Contact Rao Dermatology today to schedule a consultation.
