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Photo-Epilation

Body Hair Removal For Men


Photo-epilation refers to ipl hair removal and laser hair removal for men. Collectively it is called "laser hair removal". It is used to remove human body hair, especially good for ingrown pubic laser hair removal.

The most requested non-invasive plastic surgery treatment is male and female pubic laser hair removal.

What is the definition of photo-epilation or photo-thermolysis?.

"Photo" means light and "thermolysis" means destroying with heat.

Thus the act of removing hair with light.

How does it work? A gentle beam of light energy is emitted by the laser, or flashlamp light (IPL) and delivered to the skin.

This light passes through the skin to a group of hair follicles where it is absorbed by the chromophore dark melanin in the hair. The three skin chromophores are melanin, haemoglobin and water.

Photo epilation with intense pulsed light on face The delivered power is high enough to destroy the follicles, but not high enough to harm the surrounding skin.

This is called selective chromophore absorption or selective photothermolysis.

The emitted light energy is transformed into heat of 70 degrees Celsius for the duration of 2 milliseconds(ms) inside the skin.

The heat will destroy or disable the follicle by coagulating or solidifying it.

Only hair in the active growth phase (anagen) will be destroyed. Hair in the catagen and telogen phases won't be affected at all.

Once a follicle is killed, it can never produce a hair again. The skin should be cooled during the treatment.





Why should the skin be cooled?

Photo epilation requires skin cooling For two reasons – pain reduction and reducing the side effects of possibe overheating of the skin.

Cooling is done before, during and after treatment by means of cooling gel, ice packs, a special cooling device or any alternative method.

Cooling saves the skin from possible overheating, burning or blistering.

When healed there may be hyper-pigmentation (darkening) or hypopigmentation (lightening) of the skin.

In a cooled skin, the minimum damage will be done to the surrounding skin while the maximum damage is done to the follicle and papilla.


Is photo epilation a popular treatment?

Figures from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) indicate that laser and IPL hair removal was the third most common non-surgical cosmetic procedure performed during 2009. There were over 1,28 million treatments performed in 2009 in the USA alone.


How deep does the beam penetrate the skin?

Photo epilation - depth of light penetration in skin

The ideal wavelength for effective hair reduction is between 700 nanometer (nm) to 800nm.

At this depth there is enough melanin absorption to destroy the hair, while still protecting the skin.

Intense pulsed light or IPL laser hair removal machines operates between 400nm and 1200nm.

A laser operates at one, and only one, wavelength.

IPLs can therefore be applied for several different types of treatments.

(Graphic Body4Real) Only lasers that operate in the red or near-infrared (visible) wavelength region must be used for hair reduction. Read here which lasers comply.


Who are good candidates for photo-epilation?

Very good hair reduction results are achieved with thick, dark terminal body hair on a fair skin.

Fine vellus hair do not react well to any photo-thermolysis method. It is mostly ideal as body hair removal for men.

Photo-epilaton devices do not work on white, grey, light blonde or red hair. The reason is these hair types have a total absence if dark pigment (eumelanin) in the hair.

The greater the contrast between the skin and the hair, the better the hair removal results will be. Actually any skin where the melanin is less dense in the skin than in the hair, will get great results.


Can brown and black skins be treated with photo-epilation?

If the skin is light in colour (little dark melanin) very little light and heat will be absorbed by it. Darker skins have much more melanin present in the skin, meaning more light and therefore more heat will be absorbed by it. This often is a problem.

Determine here what your Fitzpatrick skin type classification is. Skin types VI, V and VI must be treated with utmost caution.

That is because of the huge amounts of dark melanin present in the skin. This can very easily lead to burning of the skin. Luckily the side effects are temporary.


Why doesn't it work on fair hair?

Unsuitable candidates for photo epilation

Fair, red and grey hair doesn't have any dark melanin (eumelanin).

Red melanin (eumelanin) is present in these hair, but grey hair doesn't have any melanin.

Dark pigment is needed to absorb the light that must convert to heat to kill the dermal papilla that nourishes the follicle.

If no dark melanin is present (eg grey hair) no light will be absorbed and no heat can be produced to kill it.

You will just be wasting your precious time and hard earned money on unsuccessful treatments. Some unscrupulous solons won't inform you of this fact.


How long has photo-epilation been available?

Removing hair by photo-epilation is still a relatively young application. The first laser to attempt this technique in trials, was the Q-Switched Ruby laser (690nm) in 1995.

Since 1995 a number of permanent hair removal systems have been adapted to the photo-epilation process with varying degrees of success. Currently the Nd:YAG (1064nm) is considered to be the preferred laser for hair reduction treatments.


Are photo epilation results permanent?

No, but it can be. All photo-tricholysis systems have to use the term "hair reduction". Lasers were initially sold as the first and only machine that can achieve permanent hair removal. That statement has been proven to be wrong.

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) only gave approval to electrolysis to use the term "permanent hair removal".

Both doctors and patients now have more realistic expectations of this treatment type. Depending on factors such as colour, texture and location of the unwanted body hair, it is now generally accepted that hair can be removed for up to one year with this method.

Once regrowth starts again, hair is both fairer in colour and fewer in numbers. Sometimes the results can even be permanent. Great results are achieved with ingrown pubic hair.


Laser treatment costs

The typical cost of laser hair removal and tattoo removal prices must be discussed with the salon of your choice, because prices differ substantially from one place to the next. However, it is generally considered to be a very expensive treatment.




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