Laser hair removal complications
The most important complications of laser hair removal, where we should be take precautions to avoid, are the occurrence of superficial burns or pigmentation or removal of the tattoos.
Definitely, the patient and every person in the room should wear laser protective goggles to avoid eye injury.
What causes burns and pigmentation with laser?
The laser target is melanin dye in the hair follicle. Melanin pigment is also present in the skin, more often in the darker skin-types. If a short wave-length laser is used, less than 800, such as the Alexandrite, the melanin pigment in the skin absorbs some of the laser energy before reaching the target hair follicle, which may lead to skin burns and pigmentation.
How can we avoid complications of laser hair removal?
To avoid burns, use laser devices with long wavelengths. This is specially important with dark or brown skin. Machines with not less than 800 um should be used to by-pass the melanin pigment in the skin, and hit the hair follicles without damaging the skin.
Talk to your doctor about the presence of Tattoos, and ask us her to cover it with an insulating layer such as medical tape. If the tattoo is not covered, it is possible to accidentally hit it with the laser, which might lead to burns, followed by loss of the tattoo.
What is the fate of the skin in case of burns from the laser?
In most cases, the skin heals easily. However, skin hyper- pigmentation might take months to resolve. On the other hand, decreased pigment or hypo-pigmentation might take much longer for the skin to recover its color, especially with laser devices with short wavelengths.
Why do we prefer the German and American Laser hair removal machines with longer wave-lengths (Mediostar & LightSheer)?
We have not seen long-term complications with the use of our longer-wave-length laser machines. Machines with wave-lengths longer than 800 by-pass the skin to hit the hair roots. The burns and pigments that may occur with the short-wave devices rarely happen & resolve easily with the Mediostar & LightSheer machines.
What are the main advantages of the German laser hair removal machine? Mediostar Pro XL?
1 – The largest pulse size, several times the size of the normal devices. This means that the full body can be done in a short time, much shorter than regular machines.
2 – higher efficiency because it emits two laser beams not one pulse, a 805 beam directed to the follicles of hair and 930 directed to the vessels supplying it.
- Less pain using 360 degrees contact and Smooth Mode
4 – Complications, burns, pigmentation and darkening of the skin, which are a major problems with many devices, are very rare with the Mediostar Smooth Mode.
