Hi I had laser hair removal in 2003. I just had 2 treatments on my chest and abdomen with and ND Yag type laser, I thinkt he cool glide, but saw zero reduction of any kind, so I never did it again. Before the treatment I had pretty bad acne on my chest. Surprisingly after the treatments I have never got acne again. I was wondering if anybody has experienced the same thing? I know they use these type of lasers for acne treatment as well, but they usually suggest 8 treatments, yet I noticed my acne was cured after 1 laser hair removal treatment. The reason I made this post is because I suffer from acne on the back and face as well. I have back hair and facial hair in these area’s and I was wondering if there is any chance that have a few treatments will help to eliminate the acne like it did on my chest. I am not sure if this is posted in the right area or not. I’d like my back hair eliminated as well, but I am not convinced it will work for me. I have light scan, type II, and medium brown hair.
It sounds like you had pseudofolliculitis barbae (ingrown hairs), not acne. Without the hair, you stop getting ingrowns, as you noticed.
For the other areas, you should be evaluated by a dermatologist. Treatment for acne depends on the type of lesions you have.
It’s hard to judge reduction from just a treatment or two without taking photos. So you probably did have some type of result, but not in all phases of growth since you didn’t have a full set of treatments. Btw, 8 is not usually necessary for an area with coarse dense growth.
Either you had ingrown hairs rather than actual acne and laser treatments helped it in part by making the hairs thinner, or you had acne that went away due to age (you get acne in your teens and early 20s, but it goes away slowly after that).
You don’t mention whether your hair is coarse. The color is only one part of th equation. Laser works well on any dark hair that is coarse and dense. If that’s what you have, you can definitely get results as long as you use a good laser for a skin type II (alexandrite type) and aggressive settings. Check out our FAQs below.
Thanks for the response. My hair is coarse and very dense especially on my chest. Also I did not have ingrown hairs. I mean if I shave I do get many ingrown hairs (I do know the difference), but this was cystic acne. I have had it since I was 13 and am now I am 28. I still have it on the rest of my body and face although I take medicine to alleviate it some what. It would have to be a miracle if the acne on my chest had disappeared at the very time I received the laser treatments, but all of the other acne remained. I realize most people grow out of acne, but I can assure you i have not grown out of it unfortunately.
I just had a laser treatment on my back to try to see if it will also help to get rid of my back acne. We’ll see what happens.