We’re all a little hairier than we’d like. Just a fact of being mammals. The average homo sapiens sports around five million hairs on their body. Men have a few hundred thousand more than women.
Lots of those hairs are unwanted and unloved. For women, we don’t like to see pesky hair showing up above our upper lip, for sideburns, on our chin, and the usual areas like our legs and underarms. For men, they aren’t fans of back hair, and increasingly so the arm sweater. Some men even come in to have us thin out their beard or remove all their chest hair.
Burt Reynolds would turn over in his grave…
Today, less hair is the thing. And Dr. Kronberg’s dermatology practice on Beechnut Street in Houston is just the place to have those unwanted hairs removed. We put our Gentlase laser platform on the job. August is a great time to start your hair removal, as come next pool and beach season, you’ll be smooth and hair free!
What is laser hair removal?
Laser hair removal puts laser energy to work disabling the hair follicles so that they are unable to grow hair in the future. The FDA has approved the use of lasers for “permanent hair reduction.” Due to hairs being in different phases of the growth cycle, laser hair removal at Dr. Kronberg’s usually permanently removes 85-90 percent of unwanted hair in the treatment areas.
How does laser hair removal work?
There are two keys to laser hair removal: melanin and the hair being anchored in the hair follicle. Melanin in your hair provides the hair color (it also gives our skin its color). When laser light energy pulses are directed onto an area of unwanted hair, the melanin absorbs the laser light energy, and it converts to heat. That heat then travels down the hair shaft into the follicle damaging the follicle and preventing it from producing hair.
Is laser hair removal permanent?
First, lasers only damage hair in the anagen (growth) cycle. But hairs can also be in the catagen (transitional phase between growth and rest) or the telogen phase (rest). The catagen and telogen phases involve stopping nourishment to the hair, shedding it, and restarting a new hair shaft. That’s why lasers don’t affect hair in these phases; they’re already on their way out. And the laser energy can’t get into the follicle to damage it. Every hair on the human body is independent and works alone. Considering the numbers of hairs involved, that makes for a boatload of hair follicles to try to catch in the anagen phase for effective laser removal.
Second, damaged follicles can rebuild with hormonal changes. Plus, if a follicle is only partially damaged, it may heal and begin to regrow hair.
Bottom line, as mentioned above, you’ll have from 85 to 90 percent permanent hair reduction.
Are you ready to lose some of your mammal-ness? Call Dr. Kronberg at (713) 771-8941 and set up a consultation for laser hair removal.
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