How Does Laser Hair Removal Work? — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00How does Laser Hair Removal work?
2. 0:03Welcome to Dr. Scheiner's Medical Minute.
3. 0:05Today we're going to talk about the finer points of laser hair removal.
4. 0:09In the summer time in northern climates and all year round in southern climates, people
5. 0:13look forward to laying by the pool and soaking in some sun.
6. 0:18But this also involves waxing and shaving often sensitive areas of our bodies every
7. 0:23few weeks and dealing with pain and razor bumps to look good in our swim suits.Thankfully
8. 0:29there are options for permanently reducing body hair through laser hair treatments.
9. 0:33How does this work?
10. 0:35Our hair has color because of melanin.
11. 0:38There are two types Pheomelanin which is in red or blond hair and Eumelanin which is in
12. 0:44brown or black hair.
13. 0:46The hair follicles lie deep in the skin below the top skin layers know as the epidermis
14. 0:50and dermis.
15. 0:52Using surface cooling methods and lasers, it's possible to treat the deep hair follicle
16. 0:57bulb, injure it and thereby prevent future hair growth all while keeping the surface
17. 1:01skin protected.
18. 1:03The hair cycles in Growing, Resting and Dormant phases.
19. 1:06The collection of hairs on our body are in different phases of these 3 cycles.
20. 1:11Because of this, only 1/3 of hairs will be effectively treated during each laser treatment.
21. 1:16The growth phase known as Anagen is the most responsive to laser hair removal.
22. 1:20While the other cycles are less responsive.
23. 1:23This is why it takes multiple treatments to get long term results from laser hair removal.
24. 1:28The procedure involves cleaning the area, applying safety glasses and moving the laser
25. 1:32over the hair removal area.
26. 1:34With numbing cream, it can feel at times like a rubber band being snapped on the skin.
27. 1:39The treatment is effective in clearing 90% of hair when done in a series of treatments.
28. 1:44Historically laser hair removal was only appropriate for light skin individuals but using new laser
29. 1:50technology with specific wavelengths of light that I have in my office, we can treat any
30. 1:54skin type including dark skinned patients with unwanted hair.
31. 1:59If you have facial or body hair that you are tired of shaving, laser hair removal could
32. 2:03be an option for you.
33. 2:04You can contact our office for more information.
34. 2:08I hope you found this interesting and I invite you come back and watch again for our next
35. 2:11medical minute.
36. 2:13Goodbye for now and I wish each of you a beautiful day.