How successful is the process of laser hair removal?

Don't pay attention to false and misleading claims by so called experts. Patients will achieve varying degrees of success. The application of these laser energies to the skin results in almost complete removal of all actively growing hairs. The number of hairs that are permanently removed as a result of one treatment can vary. Part of the difficulty in eradication of unwanted or excess hair lies in the fact that the follicle has tremendous regenerative capabilities and that these recuperative powers are highly variable from individual to individual and from one anatomic site to another.

In most instances multiple treatments are necessary in order to achieve permanent hair reduction and in some instances treatment may fail to permanently remove all the hair in a given anatomic site. In order to understand the process it is important to understand the biology of hair growth itself. Hair growth cycles are divided into three phases. The anagen follicle or growing hair is the major target for laser energy and represents the most vulnerable phase of the hair growth cycle. Telogen or resting hairs are not actively growing and appear to be more resistant to the laser energy. The transitional phase between anagen and telogen phases known as the catagen phase is brief but also relatively resistant to laser removal.

Depending on the body site, various percentages of hairs are in the anagen, catagen and telogen phase. As a result, it is necessary to treat a given anatomic area more than once in order to attempt to achieve permanent hair removal. Since the anagen phase is most vulnerable, a period of one to three months between treatments is necessary to allow the resting or telogen phase hairs to once again enter the anagen cycle and become more sensitive to the laser energy.