• Six laser hair-removal treatments for a small area

Small areas include:

• upper lip
• chin
• sideburns
• navel line
• hands
• feet
• bikini line

Laser Hair Removal: Freeing Follicles with a Flash

Laser hair removal can effectively eliminate unwanted hair in just a few treatments. Read on to learn more about how a beam of light results in smooth skin.

Laser hair-removal treatments eliminate unwanted hair using a focused beam of light at a fixed wavelength. This light naturally targets a type of pigment known as melanin—the same chemical responsible for skin tanning—within the hair follicles, heating the follicles that are in their active growth phase to discourage future hairs from sprouting. Because the melanin absorbs the focused light, IPL treatments can eliminate hair while having little impact and causing only limited irritation to surrounding skin cells. However, this basic principle also limits the conditions in which IPL treatments can be effective. Those with darker skin and fairer hair, for instance, may require extra sessions, and gray hairs—that is, hairs that lack melanin altogether—are too wise and set in their ways to be affected. Tanning may affect the melanin in the hair as well, so patients are discouraged from sunbathing before their treatment.

What to Expect

Although there are different types of laser hair-removal devices, most have the same basic functionality. In a typical treatment, a technician presses a handheld laser device against a target area, emitting a quick pulse of light that can treat multiple hairs at once in a split second; for most patients, this will feel like someone is pinching the area of skin being treated. Most devices also have a gentle vacuum on the end that sucks hair and skin toward the laser emission, making it easier to target the follicles.