Let’s face it, excess body hair can be unsightly and embarrassing. Shaving, plucking, waxing and depilatory creams provide temporary fixes that are inconvenient, irritating and messy. Electrolysis is time consuming, sometimes painful, and is useful only in removing hair from small areas.
New Treatment Options: Lightsheer and IPL
Innovative, light-based devices have revolutionized the treatment of unwanted hair, offering gentle, ef
fective and convenient solutions for both men and women. Both the Lightsheer Diode Laser System
and Intense Pulsed Light System (IPL) use targeted flashes of light to block the regrowth potential of
the hair follicle. These treatments do not damage surrounding tissue and each device targets
numerous hair follicles simultaneously, allowing for the treatment of large areas quickly and effectively.
What to Expect
The length of an individual treatment may last anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or more, depending on the size of the area being treated. The number of treatments required depends on several
factors related to specific kinds of hair and skin. It is important to understand that hairs in an active
growth phase (anagen) are most affected by treatments. Since all hairs are not in this phase at the
same time, several treatments are necessary to achieve the best results. Practitioners design customized treatment programs, and give patients an estimate of how many sessions may be needed in
order to meet expectations.
The treatment may cause some minor discomfort – patients often describe it as a slight tingling or
compare it to a pinch or the sting of a snapped rubber band. Most patients tolerate the procedure
well; topical anesthesia is rarely required, but may be an option when treating more sensitive areas.
The appearance of the treated area immediately following a session will vary from patient to patient,
though side effects are rare. Any swelling or redness at the treatment site typically goes away within a couple of hours, and most people are able to return to normal activity immediately. The best news is that many of the unwanted hairs are gone at the end of the treatment.
