Laser hear removal: does it hurt?
Does it hurt and what could go wrong?
Problems after Laser or Intense Pulsed Light, IPL treatment for hair removal vary according to your skin type and the type of hair removal machine used, but here are some of the potential complications. Immediately after the procedure, you may notice some swelling, and the skin may become pink or red and a little sore. Patients have described it as feeling like mild sunburn, but this is a reaction that usually disappears within a day or so. Skin pigment may be darkened by bright light. It has the same effect as a light suntan, but because it is only visible at the points at which the laser has landed on your skin, it can look quite peculiar! If it occurs at all, (which is quite rare) it will gradually fade but may take many months to do so.If the skin pigment absorbs too much laser energy, the pigment can be damaged leaving pale patches on the skin. Again these usually slowly recover. The same process can cause the skin to overheat, resulting in blistering and possibly scarring. These effects are unlikely on pale skin, but care must be taken with darker skin. Individuals vary in their sensitivity to light treatment so your practitioner should test a patch of your skin before going ahead. This is particularly necessary with some types of machines. Recently tanned skin can be more vulnerable to the side effects or risks described above, and for many types of machine used, clinics will advise you to be as pale as possible before considering hair removal using light treatment. There is some evidence that the use of light based systems for hair removal can cause hair to grow in areas adjacent to the treated area in a small proportion of patients.
