I was wondering if there were any known long term risks to laser hair removal?
I was thinking about getting my wife laser hair removal for her birthday. When I asked her about it, she liked the idea of never having to shave her legs again, but was concerned about possible long term risks.
Now, I know that this is still a relatively new proceedure. But, are there any medical studies or documentation that would relieve the concern for the possibility of skin cancer or any other long term risk?
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
As of November 26, 2007, there are no glaring long-term risks. Laser hair removal has been around for a little over ten years. You can research this question further by going to www.pubmed.com or www.googlescholar.com
Legs are one of the areas that respond well to laser hair reduction. Reduction is the key word, as she won’t get 100% permanent removal even if she is good candidate. With a good laser tech using a high quality laser, she should get a good reduction. If she is not satisfied with the reduction after the prescribed number of treatments, she will need to find a skilled electrologist to finish off the remaining hairs once and for all.
Read the Laser FAQ’s page and read lagirl’s and sslhr’s posts for an added education. That way, you will spend your hard earned money wisely.
Dee
There are some serious long term risks following laser hair removal.
Depending on your age.
If you are young, the biggest risks tend to be accidents and suicides.
Older people tend to have more risk from heart disease and cancer. Diabetes and weight problems also are up there.
And of course, the longer you have laser hair removal, the more likely you are to die. In fact, if you do it long enough, there is a 100% probability that you will die.
The real question is whether any of this is caused by laser hair removal. And the answer is no.
Understand that every minute of every day (except in a few unusual circumstances) your body is being hit by the same photons that are used in laser hair removal. One of these days I am going to have to do the full calculations, but I think one pulse of photons in laser hair removal is probably equal to six or seven hours of regular light, just compressed into a few milliseconds. So the total amount of energy you get from laser hair removal is an incredibly small fraction of the energy you will get over your lifetime. The reality is that in the wavelength that laser hair removal operates, there is absolutely no cumulative damage. One can have acute damage (burn, blister, crusts) but there is no cumulative damage.
This is very different from lasers that operate in the ultraviolet end of the spectrum. There the photons will ionize the molecules in the skin, create free radicals, and cause cumulative damage. That is why the effects of sun (aging skin, sun spots, cancer, etc) take years to develop.
I would urge you to read the FAQs on this site so that you can get your wife the best treatments possible. There are hundreds of clinics and it takes some knowledge to find a good clinic with the right laser for her skin and hair type. The best advice we can give you is to do your research first before paying anything to anyone. Many clinics out there will promise you the world, so you need to learn the facts first. Not all lasers and clinics are the same. And as Dee said, there is no such thing as guaranteed “never have to shave again” result. If she has dark coarse hair, she can get a pretty good reduction as high as 95% or so though.