HAIR REMOVAL OF THE FACE

Facial hair removal can have disappointing results. Several studies in our centre have shown us that laser hair removal on the face reduces hair less efficiently than on the rest of the body. Long-term laser results The amount of hair decreases, thick and dense hair is removed, but… The reduction obtained in areas such as the armpits, legs and bikini area is much greater. This, leaving aside another problem, the paradoxical stimulation of hair after laser.

What is the explanation for the poor results of laser facial hair removal?

One consideration must be taken into account: While the number of follicles that can be activated on the skin of the face is almost 200 hairs/cm2, in the dense areas of thick hair in the bikini and armpits we have a maximum of 70 hairs/cm2. On the legs, even less, in most people. The second consideration is that achieving a reduction in the amount of hair of more than 99% is not enough, because the face can have populations of more than 10,000 hairs of medium thickness. This is the usual population of many cases that exceed 100 laser sessions in facial hair removal. A third consideration has to do with the lower capture of thin hairs, resolved with the use of solid lasers that vaporize the hair, but with regrowth. The fourth consideration is that on the face and neck, paradoxical hair stimulation occurs more frequently.  https://unilaser.org/crecimiento-paradojico-de-pelo-por-laser-para-depilacion.php

Which laser is best for facial hair removal?

The results follow-up do not favor any of them in particular in terms of efficiency. Patients with a very high population of medium hair require a greater number of sessions in general, regardless of the equipment. However, many patients show greater acceptance of diode lasers while others of solid-state lasers.

What is the difference between diode lasers and solid-state lasers?

Diode lasers fire on contact with a gel skin protector (Primelase ®). Solid-state lasers such as the Candela ® can be used to vaporize hair without using gel.

What is the advantage of Primelase ®?

The Primelase ® equipment is a diode laser equipment with the possibility of making shots with wide ranges of duration on large contact surfaces. This equipment is offered by Coccon ® to perform laser hair removal with the advantage of being the diode-type laser with the best capture of thinner hair. https://www.cocoonmedical.com/es/maquina-diodo-multiplataforma-primelapse/ A diode laser must have the possibility of reaching brown hair and thin hair. The Primelase ® has the possibility of treatment on dark skin, by mixing three long-range wavelengths (1064, 940 and 810 nanometers) which have shown the safety of being able to be used in patients with dark skin and thick hair. The Primelase ® also has a larger handpiece (5.1 cm2) that reaches good power levels and improves effective coverage with a greater number of passes.

What is the advantage of the Candela ® laser?

The Candela ® laser is more efficient than the diode laser in vaporizing thin hair. Patients with this type of hair are disappointed with diodes when they do not see action on the thinner hairs after the session, and this is the main virtue of this laser. The Candela ® laser is the one chosen to finish treatments in cases where thin hairs persist.

So what should you do to achieve complete results when removing facial hair?

We resort to electric hair removal, called electroepilation or simply electrolysis. The condition is to have achieved a significant reduction in the amount of hair, in order to make electrolysis feasible. Of course, when we have white hair, even if there is a lot of it, there is no other option than electrolysis.  

First case:

Middle-aged patient with dark skin with a history of 7 hair removal sessions with Alexandrite (Candela), Soprano, Nd-YAG (Fotona) lasers over a period of two years. As can be seen in the photographic series of the first 6 sessions, a decrease in the density of both medium-thick and thin hair was obtained two years after the last session.