IHG: subjective and/or fixable by laser?

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hello.
Long time lurker (about two years), first time poster.
I have a 25 year old male with skin type 3 (close to 2) and dark brown/black hairs.

I’ll share my complete experience about laser hair removal another time, right now I just wanted to ask something about induced hair growth.

I used to be very hairy on my back and shoulders, but about 80% is gone now after 5 Gentlelase treatments (can’t remember the settings, sorry. I just remember they were very painful even with my pale skin so they must have been good settings) with no side effects on those areas.
The last treatment was a year ago.

My upper arms got treated too (didn’t respond as well as the other areas) and now I have absolutely no idea whether LHR has stimulated hair growth or if it’s just a subjective feeling since my shoulders are almost hair-free now.

I didn’t take any pictures before starting the treatment, which was a big mistake. To make things worse I have been regularly shaving in the last few years so I literally forgot how my upper arms used to look like when my hairs were fully developed.

Unfortunately electrolysis is not an option for me simply because there are no qualified electrologists in my country who treat men and/or large areas. Trsut me on that, I have been looking for one for almost two years now.
It was a miracle I could even find medical center with a qualified laser technician near my place (and by “near” I mean a 4-hour drive from home).

There is something I’m having trouble understanding about stimulated hairs.
I often see comments such as “laser can’t fix induced hairs”:
are we talking about terminal (re: dark and coarse) hairs? Isn’t the very fact they’re dark and coarse that makes them treatable in the first place?
So why wouldn’t laser be able to fix them?

I’d like to redirect your attention to this (hopefully not outdated) thread: http://www.hairtell.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/40141/1.html

User sslhr used to be very active on this forum and from what I’ve gathered he was a very respected user.
According to him whenever IHG does happen it can be fixed with more aggressive settings.

I have also seen contrasting opinions about the nature of induced hairs: some claim they’re vellus hairs that turned into terminal hairs, others claim they’re coming from recently activated follicles and vellus hairs cannot turn into terminal. Which one is correct?

I’m curious to know if sslhr’s opinion has changed in the past years, but it’s been quite a while since he stopped posting on this forum. I wonder if it would be possible to get him to post here?

Either way, what are your thoughts on that 2007 thread? Are those claims no longer valid?

As I said before, I have no idea laser has stimulated hair growth on my upper arms so I’d like to hear your opinions before taking the next step… or simply leave them alone.

Thank you in advance for your replies.

#2

Those hairs can be ‘re-shot’ if they are dark and coarse. Are they also dense? You have no other option in your country. Settings should be aggressive, just like they were for your back. It is a gamble as what your outcome will be, but if you are willing to gamble, then go for it. This is one of those areas where men report laser-induced hair stimulation on this and other consumer boards. None of us can say if this will happen to you. You are highly satisfied with your back results, so perhaps your upper arms can be treated with success. Re-shooting hair is not a problem unless the structure and color change to thin and light colored hairs. Treating sparse hairs is risky, too. I am not a laser specialist. I am an electrologist who studies laser and laser outcomes by watching these boards and interviewing my ex-laser clients.

Yes, before pictures would be nice so you can determine if you had some stimulation on your upper arms or not.

sslhr was great! He is a busy physician and I was surprised that he gave us as much time as he did. Maybe he will stumble upon your post and give his opinion.

#3

Thank you for your reply dfahey.

I forgot to mention that I live in Italy.
By the way, I just noticed a few silly grammar mistakes in my first post - I apologize for that.

The hairs on my arms are dark, coarse and somewhat dense (not really sparse, but not chest-dense either). I should add that there are a few rather obvious circular “bald” patches on my left arm and one on my right arm, which means LHR did partially work on them.

I think it’s worth mentioning a couple of things about the permanent hair removal situation in my country:

-disregarding the fact they don’t treat men, every “electrologist” I spoke to is an esthetician with no education to speak of in the medical field. On top of that I have seen many negative feedbacks (mainly about scars) on Italian forums regarding electrolysis.

-there is a very strong pro-laser lobby situation going on. Prices are rather high, electrolysis is seen as obsolete (to be honest it’s not surprising given the lack of qualified technicians) and the very notion of “induced hair growth” is outright dismissed as absurd by the most well known and respected Italian laser technicians.

I’ve been educating myself on these forums for the last two years so I’m perfectly aware that electrolysis is anything but obsolete and that the possibility of IHG is very real.
Sadly given the situation in my country it’s impossible to argue with them. Even my laser technician dismissed the notion of IHG as “impossible” when I mentioned it.

#4

Can you post photos? Laser only works on coarse growth.

#5

Hi

Sorry for klate reply

In Italy you have ELN , they have the DEKA SYNCHRO FT which is a very good laser. You can use that. we have it in NEW YORK as well

Sincerely
Chris
R & J