Posting the text of the article here. Btw, the link works. Thanks!
(The last line of the quote is pretty much on target, i.e. these devices are not a replacement for professional treatments for most people’s needs (and Skin is not approved for sale to consumers directly). Personally, I think they’re more for those people who are looking into a home temporary removal treatment like waxing (except at a much higher price))
Hair-Razing Devices for the Home
New Lasers Let Patients Take
Matters Into Their Own Hands;
Caution for Some Complexions
By RHONDA L. RUNDLE
April 1, 2008; Page D1
Coming soon to doctors’ offices and retail stores: personal handheld lasers and other expensive medical devices for cosmetic treatments at home.
The first products to be pitched for consumer use are for long-lasting removal of unwanted hair, one of the most popular cosmetic services, which typically costs thousands of dollars in spas and dermatology offices. The challenge for manufacturers has been to develop small, affordable devices that are powerful enough to be effective, but safe enough to be used by consumers.
A device called Tria, which is being rolled out next month for $995, is the first personal cosmetic laser to be sold in the U.S. The device, made by closely held SpectraGenics Inc. of Pleasanton, Calif., uses the same diode-laser technology that became the gold standard in professional hair removal more than a decade ago. SpectraGenics has been selling a version of the Tria, called i-Epi, in Japan since 2005.
Tria, for removing unwanted hair, is the first personal cosmetic laser to be sold in the U.S.
A rival device, called Silk’n, will be launched at the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery meeting in Kissimmee, Fla., this week. Priced at $800, it incorporates a different technology, known as pulsed light, that is also found in professional systems. An Israeli company called Home Skinovations Ltd. is behind the device.
Tria and Silk’n have their limitations. They are slower than professional treatments, so they work best in small areas like lower legs, underarms and bikini lines rather than big areas like hairy men’s backs. The Food and Drug Administration hasn’t cleared them for use on the face, though consumers could end up using the devices there. And African-Americans and other dark-skinned people can’t use them because of a risk of burns. Lasers and light-based technologies work by targeting pigment in the hair and can mistake dark or tanned skin for the enemy.
“Home laser and light devices will be the biggest cosmetic trend over the next few years,” says Tina Alster, a dermatologist in Washington, who owns stock in Home Skinovations and plans to sell the Silk’n device in her office. Other sophisticated medical devices are making their way to consumers for acne, facial rejuvenation, cellulite reduction and other cosmetic uses. Consumer-products giants, including Procter & Gamble Co., Johnson & Johnson and L’Oréal have said they are pursuing some of these technologies.
The growth of home devices comes as companies try to take advantage of rising consumer spending on medical procedures to improve appearance. Americans spent about $13.1 billion on such procedures last year, up from $7.7 billion five years ago, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Hair removal alone accounted for about $547 million of spending last year. It was the most frequently performed aesthetic treatment for women under age 35, and the second most popular, after Botox anti-wrinkle injections, for older women.
The idea of a personal laser is a little scary to some people. Crystal Kantores, a 32-year-old research technician in Toronto, says she and her husband pored over the Tria instructions after she agreed to participate in a recent consumer test. She worried that it would be dangerous or painful. “I am a wimp and I was bracing for the worst,” but the pain never came, she says. “You push a button with the proper part touching the skin and it beeps,” to signal that it’s time to treat another patch, she says. It took 30 to 40 minutes to treat her lower legs.
Three weeks after the first use she saw some hair growing back, thinner and lighter. She used it two more times at three-week intervals. “It felt like after a while you wouldn’t need to do it as often, or could stop altogether,” she says. But at a cost close to $1,000, she confesses, “I can’t afford it.”
Both devices will compete against another new product, called no! no!, which sells for $250 at Sephora stores and on the home shopping network Web site, hsn.com. More like an upscale shaver, it employs an electric heating technology that didn’t require regulatory approval, but can be used on all skin types. “It works well on the legs, but not so well in the bikini area,” says James Spencer, a St. Petersburg, Fla., dermatologist who tested the device, sold by closely held Radiancy Inc. of Orangeburg, N.Y. Some users have complained about the odor of burning hair, but Dr. Spencer says this isn’t a big problem.
Tria’s maker developed a skin-color safety sensor that helped allay FDA concerns. A small, detachable tester is placed on the skin – it flashes a green light if the skin is light enough to be treated safely; a red light if it isn’t. To unlock the laser and start operation, the sensor, flashing green, must be waved over the hand piece.
Tria will be sold, starting in late summer, at Bergdorf Goodman in New York and Studio at Fred Segal in Santa Monica, Calif. It will also be available at Bliss and Remèdespas, located inside Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s W Hotels and St. Regis Hotels & Resorts. In May, several dozen dermatologists and plastic surgeons are expected to start selling the lasers in their offices.
The Silk’n’s FDA clearance requires it to be sold to physicians, who in turn may sell it to consumers. That’s because the FDA denied the manufacturer’s application for over-the-counter sale, fearing the device might be used on dark skin.
Buyers may be women who need periodic “touch-ups” after professional treatments, or who feel more comfortable treating themselves in the privacy of their own homes, dermatologists say. “If you look at hair dyes, some people like to buy them for use at home, others prefer to have professional service,” said Brian Zelickson, a Minneapolis dermatologist who plans to sell the Tria in his office.
Home devices are less powerful than professional ones, but also less painful. While the home devices are relatively slow, that may be fine with consumers who are content to treat themselves while watching a favorite television show. Protective eyewear isn’t needed while using the devices.
Adele Backus, a 48-year-old recruiting consultant in Arlington, Va., who tested the Silk’n last year, says it was “kind of startling at first,” when the pulsed light flashed. It took about five minutes to treat her underarms, and about 20 minutes to do her legs, she says. Now, more than six months later, some of the hair has grown back. “It’s lighter and feels thinner, and there are some areas where it hasn’t come back at all,” she says.
Many spa owners and skin doctors say they aren’t worried about new competition. “I don’t see these as anything that will replace our services,” says Gary Graves, chief executive of American Laser Centers, a chain of specialty clinics around the country. The chain’s average sale is about $2,000 for a course of hair-removal treatments. He says the home devices are too low-powered to achieve permanent hair reduction, the goal of his clinics.
Write to Rhonda L. Rundle at [email protected]
