If you feel like your normal hair removal techniques and treatments aren’t cutting it, you aren’t alone. Traditional treatment options for unwanted hair offer short-term results and may take up hours of your time each month. Instead of spending both time and money on these treatments, you could be achieving long-term or even permanent results with laser treatments at Premiere Center for Health and Wellness in Cincinnati, OH!
Is It Possible to Get Permanent Hair Removal?
At our office, we use the top-quality Cutera excel HR laser system to ensure optimal results for every patient. This system uses two distinct laser wavelengths to target unwanted hair in a variety of locations. It also features automatic cooling to counteract external heat emitted by the laser and keep you comfortable. Thanks to its advanced technology, this system can deliver long-term hair removal results in just a few sessions.
While no treatment is able to guarantee permanent results, laser hair treatment is the most reliable way to see progressive hair reduction over time. Our doctor will examine your areas of concern and recommend a personalized treatment plan. Many patients who observe their treatment plan find that their volume of undesired hair decreases significantly over their first year of treatment. In some cases, this may include permanent hair loss in certain areas.
Which Areas Can Be Treated?
Because hair grows on almost every part of the body, you want a hair removal option that can address your concerns wherever they are. Our versatile laser system can safely and effectively treat most of the body for partial or full hair reduction. Some of the most popular treatment locations include the legs, arms, face, and back.
In addition, we can treat the arms, underarms, chest, bikini area, and neck. The treatment and recovery experiences for these locations are largely the same. The only area we do not treat is the skin around the eyebrows and eyes. By avoiding these areas with laser treatment and having you wear protective eyewear during your appointment, we can fully ensure that your eyes and eyesight are protected.
How Long Does a Laser Session Take?
The duration of your appointment will depend on your areas of concern. Laser treatment for your underarm area or upper lip could take just 5-10 minutes, while full treatment of your legs, chest, or back may take 45-60 minutes to complete. Combining treatment areas in a single session will also impact the length of your appointment. Our doctor can give you a better idea of how long your specific laser session will last during your initial consultation.
How Does Laser Hair Treatment Compare to Other Removal Options?
There is no shortage of treatments for unwanted hair. Here are some of the most popular options for hair reduction treatments and how they compare to laser treatments.
Shaving
Shaving is perhaps the most popular and widely spread hair reduction treatment in the world. It involves the use of a sharp razor and cuts the hair off at the surface of your skin without removing the hair follicle. This can help you achieve smoother skin, but your results only last 1-3 days before the natural hair growth cycle grows new hair.
Shaving requires multiple razors throughout your lifetime, and the cost quickly adds up. In addition, razor burn, cuts, and stubble make many patients feel unsatisfied with their shaving results. The biggest complaint, however, is the time it takes to shave. Laser treatment requires approximately 1 hour every 6-8 weeks to effectively remove hair and is able to do so with minimal irritation and no at-home equipment purchases required.
Waxing
Waxing uses a hot wax mixture or pre-packaged adhesive strips to remove hair from the skin. The sticky wax attaches to the exterior hair shaft and pulls the follicle out of the skin when removed with a quick, tugging motion. It is often used to treat large areas like the legs, back, or chest. While it offers longer-lasting results than shaving, it must be performed when the hair is long enough to adhere to the wax and may cause irritation in more sensitive skin.
Laser treatment also targets the full hair follicle, but it does not irritate the surrounding skin. Instead, the laser energy heats and destroys unwanted hair follicles without forcibly removing them. Treatment is also able to deliver longer-lasting results that may become permanent with repeated appointments.
Plucking and Threading
Both plucking and threading are often used for smaller sections of the face, including the upper lip and cheeks, and pull unwanted hairs out by the root. This spot treatment technique provides full removal of visible unwanted hair, but the results are not permanent as the hair follicles grow back over time. Laser treatments can target the same spots and provide long-term results in fewer appointment sessions.
Hair Creams
Hair removal creams became popular due to their ability to dissolve hair shafts that were visible on the surface of the skin. Depending on the quality of the product, the results achieved may be visible, but they are short-term and may come with skin irritation from the product ingredients. In most cases, laser treatment is preferable to creams due to its ability to target the whole hair structure and provide reliable, long-lasting results with minimal irritation.
Is Laser Treatment Safe for My Skin?
In the past, many laser treatments were not recommended for certain skin and hair colors. This was due to the set wavelength option, which targeted the pigment in each hair follicle. While treatment was successful for some patients, other patients with darker skin colors, lighter hair colors, or more sensitive skin were not able to achieve comparable results due to the limitations of the laser technology.
With the Cutera excel HR, we can adjust the wavelength options to choose the best setting for your skin, hair, and sensitivities. This helps us deliver even, consistent hair reduction results for most skin tones and sensitivity levels by targeting pigment in the unwanted hair without causing irritation in the surrounding skin.
Am I an Ideal Candidate?
If you’re an adult man or woman seeking a proven way to manage undesired hair, you could be a good candidate for laser hair reduction treatments. In general, you should be free from any skin conditions that could interact negatively with the laser technology or treatment process. You should also have realistic expectations for the results you may achieve with this treatment option.
You may not be an ideal candidate if you have extremely light hair colors, which may include shades of blonde, red, or gray. These colors often lack sufficient pigmentation and cannot be effectively targeted with laser treatment. In addition, this treatment might not be right for you if you tan or self-tan regularly. If you have any questions about your candidacy for treatment, our doctor can answer them during your initial consultation.
What Can I Expect?
Consultation
Before your first hair reduction treatment, you will meet with our experienced doctor for an initial consultation. This appointment helps our doctor evaluate your areas of concern and determine your candidacy for treatment. To accomplish this, our doctor will examine your skin and review your medical history. They may also ask you questions about your desired results from treatment.
If you are approved for laser hair removal treatments, our doctor will recommend a personalized treatment plan to help you achieve your ideal image. They will also give you an idea of how long your first appointment may last based on the areas you choose to treat.
Preparation
While this treatment requires little preparation, there are a few important steps you should take to ensure your skin is ready for treatment. First, it’s essential to limit your sun exposure before and after your appointments to reduce your risk of irritation. We recommend that our patients wear sunscreen on any exposed skin each day to avoid sunburn and more serious sun damage such as discoloration, dark spots, and skin cancer.
In addition, tanning is not recommended for patients pursuing laser hair removal. Darkening the natural pigment of your skin may make you more susceptible to irritation from the laser, which may target pigment in both your skin and hair follicles if your skin is tanner than normal. Self-tanning products should not be applied for at least 2 weeks prior to your appointment.
In the 24 hours before your appointment, you should use a sharp razor to shave the entire target area. This essential step ensures that the laser will not burn exterior hair, which could cause irritation to the surrounding skin. Instead, the laser energy will directly target the hair follicles under the skin.
Treatment
On the day of your appointment, you should not apply any makeup products to the target skin. You should ensure that your skin is washed and clean-shaven and wear loose, comfortable clothing. One of our trained staff members will apply a topical numbing agent to the targe skin if requested. However, our laser system’s cooling feature means that most of our patients report zero discomfort during treatment, even without topical anesthetic.
Our staff will use the handheld laser device to treat the target area. You may feel some warmth and a slight snapping sensation as the laser destroys hair follicles. This process may take between 10-60 minutes or longer, depending on your areas of concern. Once the treatment is complete, we will provide you with instructions to follow during recovery before you are free to return to your normal activities.
Results
You should continue to protect your healing skin from harmful sun exposure for 2-3 weeks after each treatment session. In general, early treatments are separated by 4-6 weeks. You may notice hair shedding 1-2 weeks after treatment, which is a sign of successful treatment. As your body’s natural hair growth cycle continues, our staff will continue treatments to ensure that your areas of concern are comprehensively treated for maximum hair reduction.
After your first several appointments, you should notice that new hair growth is more sparse and finer than before. With continued touch-up treatments, your hair reduction will continue to improve. Some patients even report that they experience total and permanent hair removal in their areas of concern once they finish their treatment plan, often just 6-12 months after their first appointment.
Contact Us to Learn More!
If you’re ready to learn more about how laser treatments can help you achieve your ideal image, contact our team of experts at Premiere Center for Health and Wellness in Cincinnati, OH, to schedule your initial consultation today! In addition to hair removal, we offer a variety of medical and cosmetic services along with solutions for hormone health for both women and men. We look forward to serving you soon!