Posted on Sun, Jan. 07, 2007
Laser hair-removal rules are proposed
By MARIA M. PEROTIN
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
You’re not allowed to apply false eyelashes in Texas without a license.
You need state credentials to braid a client’s hair. To shave a moustache with a razor. Even to shampoo somebody’s tresses.
But if you’re using a laser to zap away their unwanted hair, you don’t need a license. Just about anyone can set up shop here.
Like many states, Texas has no mandatory training, regular inspections or other regulations for laser hair removal – a treatment that uses beams of light to kill hair more or less permanently.
That could change this year, if state lawmakers approve legislation to regulate laser technicians and their businesses.
Proposed by state Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, the rules would require technicians – who don’t need to be healthcare professionals – to earn a certificate allowing them to remove hair.
Hair-removal businesses would need licenses; they’d have to consult with a doctor to devise protocols; and they’d need a physician available for emergency consultations. But a doctor wouldn’t have to be on hand day-to-day to oversee the work.
The rules could end a three-year turf battle between the Texas Medical Board and the hair-removal industry, which have been feuding over who should be allowed to operate lasers.
In general, the treatment is available from doctors, nonmedical technicians at independent shops, and at hair-removal chains with multiple locations.
The medical board, which licenses Texas doctors, passed a rule in 2003 that would have restricted the procedure to physicians and to people working under their supervision. But opponents sued the board and won a restraining order – effectively shelving that regulation before it was enforced.
Laser hair removal has become increasingly popular in recent years, as men and women have sought alternatives to repeatedly shaving or waxing their unwanted hair.
Prices vary broadly, but generally range from $60 for one treatment of the upper lip to as much as $500 for a lower leg procedure, said Steve Finder, the owner of a hair-removal chain and president of the Texas Association for Cosmetic Laser Education and Regulation.
Mike White, a lobbyist who represents Finder’s organization, said laser operators support the proposed regulations and training requirements. In fact, he said, his group of shop owners approached Truitt about creating a certification process in the first place.
Still, he insists that safety concerns have been overblown by doctors looking to quash competition from technicians.
“If they were doing things wrong and hurting people, they’d be out of business,” White said. “As far as we’re concerned, safety is paramount in this whole process because you’ve got to protect your clients.”
Michele Shackelford, general counsel for the medical board, said physicians wanted “someone with more in-depth medical training” to ensure that laser treatment is appropriate for each client and that it’s done properly.
Although complications from laser procedures appear to be rare, Shackelford said there’ve been enough reports of patients with burned skin to worry physicians.
“There is concern because of the number of problems that doctors have had come to them, after there’s been a botched treatment,” she said. “Is it a high number? No. If it happened to you, would you care that it’s a high number? No.”
Truitt’s legislation would go a good way toward easing doctors’ concerns, Shackelford said. But physicians still have questions about what their role would be under the proposed rules.
“We’re glad for somebody to regulate the industry,” Shackelford said. “We think it needs to happen.”
A closer look at the process
Procedure’s popularity
Laser hair removal has become one of the most common cosmetic procedures performed in the United States, second only to Botox injections. More than 914,000 laser procedures – including treatments to eliminate hair, remove tattoos, erase spider veins, and for other skin conditions – were performed in 2005. That’s up 52 percent from 2001.
How it works
Beams of highly concentrated light are used to penetrate hair follicles and destroy unwanted hair. It usually takes a series of treatments over time to get rid of the hair.
What happens
Some patients experience hair removal that lasts for years. Others need maintenance treatments to keep up the hair loss. It’s impossible to tell in advance how many treatments will be required or how long the hair will remain gone. But in general, laser hair removal works best on patients with dark hair on lighter skin.
Potential complications
Redness and swelling are normal but usually disappear within a day. Rare complications include blisters and burns, especially in people who’ve recently been in the sun or who go into the sun shortly afterward. Patients also can end up with raised red scars, or with too much or too little pigment remaining in the skin.