Ingrown hairs and laser treatment

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

I just had my first LHR treatment in my pubic hair region with the Soprano XL machine last week. I am seeing shedding as of today and am happy about that. So far so good.

But I now have 2 ingrown hairs in this area. I think there may be a few other ingrown hairs but it is a bit early to tell for sure. Normally when I get an ingrown, I can get it out but both of these are in deep and hurt like the dickens when I tried to take care of it.

Is is possible that the LHR treatment caused these hairs to become ingrown and possibly infected?

I already have a consult with an electrologist at the end of the week to look at the hair on my upper lip and my eyebrows. We are going to discuss treatment for those areas as well as any cleanup for stray hairs (if any) after the laser treatments are over. I was thinking that it might be wise to have her look at the area with the ingrown hairs to see if she can do anything about it.

Do electrologists take care of ingrown hairs or do I have to go to my doctor?

Should I leave the ingrown hairs alone and see if they work themselves free at the shedding process continues?

#2

I seriously doubt the laser caused the ingrown hairs. Laser is ordinarily very effective at removing these. Some electrologists are very good at removing ingrown hairs, so it never hurts to ask. It’s not an unusual request. You should probably attempt to exfoliate/scrub the ingrowns, but only after all other inflammation from your laser treatment has resolved. I wouldn’t recommend attempting to dig them out, either. That is far more likely to cause infection than simply leaving them alone.

#3

Hi, it’s not really possible that ingrown hairs are caused by laser at this stage. It will have been the shaving that you did before the laser. You may get pepper spots - when the hair doesn’t shed, you just leave them alone and they usually go away with the next treatment.

If anything, laser will take care of your ingrown hair problems. I used to get a lot on my bikini line as a result of waxing but after starting laser, even during my treatments, they went away.

#4

Thanks for the quick responses. :slight_smile: Ingrown hairs are the biggest reason I started LHR. I knew that shaving/waxing caused them. I did not really think that the LHR treatment caused the ingrown hairs but it was the only differing variable and I thought to check here before I started freaking out.

I did not know if it may have irritated them though.

I was shaving the area but I do exfoliate at every day in the shower so my ingrown hairs are usually minimal and easily taken care of with a sterilized set of tweezers but not on these two. These hairs are just to deep for me to get to so I am going to have the electrologist look at them to see if she can remove them and take her advice about how to deal with these.

Thanks again!!

#5

I would wait 3 weeks. Those seeming ingrowns will likely be pushed out of the skin because they’re no longer attached to the follicle due to the laser treatment. You can exfoliate to help them out.

If it doesn’t happen by the time shedding is complete, then you can have the electrologist remove it.

#6

Thanks for the advise LAgirl.

Since the areas are not painful unless I am poking at them, I am going to leave them alone until I get through the first shedding to see what happens.

I hate these darn things though. Cant wait until I have no (or a heck of a lot less) hair and wont have them anymore.

#7

I used to only wax due to the amount of ingrowns I got on bikini and underarms. That’s the main reason I got LHR. Well, I don’t have that problem anymore. :slight_smile: You won’t either, soon.