How to Prepare for Laser Hair Removal

Video Transcript

DR. GREGORY NIKOLAIDIS: Hi, I'm Dr. Gregory Nikolaidis with Westlake Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery here to discuss Laser Hair Removal. Things to remember with Laser Hair Removal is that the lasers work by treating the pigment in the hair and causing the hair follicle to become inactivated. So when patient comes in, we remind patients that they need to avoid tanning before they come in because if their skin is tanned, the skin will absorb the light and we have to use a lower setting. Other things to remember, the patient's need to shave prior to coming in for the Laser Hair Removal because we're trying to treat the hair and the follicle and not the hair sticking above the skin. Finally, with Laser Hair Removal, it typically takes four to eight sessions to get a noticeable reduction and hair growth. We're treating hair at different cycles and in order to get a noticeable reduction of 50% to 75% reduction in hair growth, we need multiple treatments. So, typically we have patients come in for six-day treatments over the course of four to six weeks.