LaseRx offers state 0f the art laser hair removal solutions in Mumbai (Bombay)

Laser Hair Removal is based on the principal that red or short infra-red light gets highly absorbed in black colour. Such light has poor absorption in water and blood, the other components of skin. On the other hand, hair contains a black pigment called melanin, which absorbs such light. The laser light penetrates through skin, and heats up the melanin in the hair follicle, thus causing heating up of the hair follicle, and its destruction. During this heating up phase, it also heats up the areas surrounding the hair follicle, like the matrix cells and the bulge, thus causing damage to those structures of the skin which are responsible for new hair follicle formation. Thus, the overall effect is two-fold: a) a destruction of the existing hair follicles and b) a disabling of the mechanism for new hair follicle growth. Thus, permanent hair removal or reduction is possible.

Since there is melanin in the skin too, which gives skin a dark colour, the lasers have special mechanisms to deal with this problem. This is achieved by cooling the skin prior to applying the laser, which limits the skin’s temperature, and also by choosing a laser pulse width carefully, which allows the skin to cool down, even as the hair gets heated up. Thus, while the best candidates for laser hair removal have dark hair and fair skin, we can easily tackle even the darkest individual. However, patients who have white hair are not good candidates, since they have no melanin in the hair follicles.

Another thing to recognize is that hair grows in phases, and there are dormant as well as active growing phases. It is only in the active growing phase that hair follicles are full of melanin. Thus, it is only in this phase that laser hair removal is effective. Since only a small percentage (depending on person and body area) of hair is in the active growing phase at any one time, it is only that hair which is affected by laser hair removal. Thus, several sessions are necessary to achieve removal of a large percentage of hair. The number of sessions necessary is dependent on the person and the body area to be treated.

It is not the goal of laser hair removal to achieve removal of every single hair. Typically, 70-80% of the hair is removed after a few sessions. However, the remaining hair is also damaged, and thus grows more slowly, is thinner, and is depigmented. Thus, the overall cosmetic situation is quite acceptable.