Laser hair removal
From ArticleWorld
Laser hair removal is a form of epilation.
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History
Laser hair removal had been performed for 20 years experimentally before becoming available to the public in the middle of the 1990s.
Terminology
Hair removal by means of lasers or lights are sometimes also called photoepiliation or photoricholysis.
A xenon flashlamp is used in light-based epilation. It works by emitting a full-spectrum intense pulsed light. This treatment method is also classified as laser hair removal in the broadest sense of the term.
How it works
Laser hair removal works based on the principle of selective photothermolysis, which allows lasers to cause localized damage. The lasers selectively heat dark matter in an area that causes hair grown without heating the rest of one’s skin.
Lasers target any one of three types of chromophores:
- Carbon, which is placed on the follicle with a carbon-based lotion. This method does not cause permanent loss and has therefore been widely aboandonded.
- Hemoglobin, which is the material that gives blood its red color.
- Melanin, which is the most widely used chromophore. It occurs naturally in skin and gives hair its color. Black or brown hair can be removed with this method.
Permanence
Any laser light beam that is used topically is only able to penetrate 2 mm into the skin’s surface. This causes debate as to the permanence of the procedure. For this reason, laser technicians are required by law to use the term “laser hair reduction,” rather than “laser hair removal.”
Other uses
Hair removal lasers have also been known to treat shaving bumps and ingrown hairs (known as pseudofollicultis barbae) as well as in treatment for pilonidal cysts.