Be careful of Paradoxical Laser Hair Stimulation

Cosmetic surgeries and beauty treatments are gaining much attention in times like today as people are attaching much importance to appropriate appearance. Every person is now much more aware of his dressing, appearance and style. One of the latest trends to gain popularity is Vancouver Laser Hair Removal. The success rate of this treatment is very high and most customers are satisfied with the results. Some of the benefits of laser hair removal include;

• Helps to avoid side effects caused due to other hair removal techniques such as use of razor, and waxing

• It is a convenient and easy solution to decrease hair growth

• Relatively pain free than waxing

• Cost effective as it is a onetime procedure unlike other procedures which require multiple visits at regular intervals

• Safe and hassle free. Can help remove hair from even delicate and sensitive parts of the body.

Laser hair removal is on a rise as more people are looking for permanent solution to removal of unwanted hair. The results are almost always accurate and considerable reduction in hair growth is observed. But things do not always go as promised and thus instead of removing hair, laser treatments many a times promote hair growth. This occurrence is known as the hypertrichosisis which is a paradoxical effect of laser epilation. Even though the exact mechanism and what triggers the hair growth behind is unknown, the fact remains that laser treatment can occasionally have wrong effects. Scientists are researching this phenomenon in order to avoid this condition.

For a better understanding of this effect, scientists undertook an experiment using an alexandrite laser for hair removal of a test group of 489 patients. All the patients had been administered laser hair removal from a single clinic and were all well taken care of by dermatologists and nurses. Out of these 489 patients only 3 patients suffered from laser induced hypertrichosisis. Each patient showed signs of increased dense and coarse hair.

Upon closer view of these 3 patients the common factors included black hair and Skin Type IV, which is a darker shade of skin and dos not burn when exposed to the sun. Amongst the 489 patients which showed six different Fitzpatrick Skin Types, only the Skin Type IV was affected severely by the laser treatment. Thus these two important factors namely hair color and skin type play a major role in laser induced hypertrichosisis.