Laser and IPL hair removal background information

Using light as a medical treatment has grown significantly in recent years. Now, there are a number of devices which use light for a variety of medical treatments. Ultra - Violet light, for example, has been used to treat psoriasis (a chronic skin disease) for a number of years, and many people use light boxes during the winter to reduce the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Simply, regular exposure to such light is said to make people feel better.

The use of laser light for medical procedures began in the 1960s when lasers were first used in operations as cutting tools by some surgeons. Laser technology has developed over the last few decades to treat patients with a variety of different skin problems including the effects of sun damage, hair removal, thread and varicose veins and, recently, the treatment of psoriasis and acne. In fact, laser treatment for hair removal was developed after they had been used to treat skin problems.

Scientific studies in the early 1990s proved that lasers were an effective method of removing unwanted hair, and the first machine approved for use in America was in 1996. Since then, many different types of laser and Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) machines or Light Heat Energy (LHE) devices have been developed and improved to remove hair in all areas of the body (including beards). This procedure has proved very popular in a short space of time in the U.S., where figures from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (A.S.A.P.S.) indicate that laser hair removal was the second most common cosmetic treatment in 2005 with nearly 1.6 million treatments, up 11% on 2004.

There has been similar rapid adoption of this technology by many clinics in the United Kingdom. For those interested in such a treatment, it is important to note that no manufacturer has been given permission to claim that they can cause "permanent removal" of hair, as this has not yet been proven. However, they are allowed to claim "permanent reduction" of hair when advertising read more