Hair Removal
Hair removal is the elimination of unwanted hair. Both men and women seek to rid themselves of hair in unwanted places. Several techniques can be used to accomplish this task. One just needs to decide if they want to temporarily remove the hair or to permanently reduce the unwanted hair.
Temporary methods to remove hair include shaving, trimming, depilatory creams, tweezing, waxing, threading or epilators. Some of these methods will remove just the surface hair (shaving) while other methods will remove the entire hair (waxing). With any temporary method the hair will grow back within a matter of days to weeks.
Permanent hair reduction can be accomplished by electrolysis, lasers, flash lamp, or prescription medications. Currently, electrolysis is the only FDA approved method for permanent hair removal. Done by removing one hair at a time this method works well with small areas and is very effective on fine, light colored hairs such as blonde, gray and white.
Lasers are FDA approved for permanent hair reduction. Lasers and flash lamps work by causing localized damage to hair follicles by selectively heating hairs, preferably dark hair, while not heating the surrounding skin. The ideal combination to treat with laser hair removal is light skin and dark hair. The lasers are programmed to destroy melanin (the substance that gives hair its color) to destroy the currently active hair follicles. There are several different types of lasers and flash lamps that can achieve this goal. Types of lasers include the Diode, Nd: YAG and Alexandrite. Types of flash lamps include the IPL or intense pulsed light treatments. The benefit of these treatments hair removal is they are fast and effective. Most people need 3-8 treatments scheduled 4-12 weeks apart. Faces tend to need more frequent appointments, backs and legs need less frequent. Some may need a ‘touch up’ periodically after the initial treatments.
Medications such as Vaniqua (eflomithine HCL cream) are used to help retard he growth of facial hair in females. Generally these medications work well in conjunction with other facial hair removal treatments. Results can be seen in 4-6 weeks.
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