How Many Laser Hair Removal Treatments

Several years ago I decided to stop shaving my legs and switched to waxing. I was sick of ingrown hairs and the little cherry-red bumps that formed on my lower legs from an one-time school razor. (Annotation to readers: If this is already also much information, this article is probably not for you.) Waxing your legs, I soon learned, is wonderful—for three days. Then the pilus begins to creep back in and you lot are stuck with it for at least two weeks, three if y'all desire information technology to be fifty-fifty more than efficient. At the cease of last summertime, I put my furry foot downwardly. No more of this back-and-forth business, I decided. It was fourth dimension to look into a more permanent option.

I remembered first hearing about laser hair removal years agone when people were kickoff talking about information technology and thinking, "Eek, that sounds risky, I'thousand going to expect and see if this goes the fashion of the LaserDisc or the DVD." Basically I wanted to brand sure it was legit and worth the time, hurting, and cost.

The way light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation pilus removal works, I soon discovered from a quick bit of precautionary research, is that pulses of highly concentrated light are emitted from the light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation into the hair follicles. The pigment in the follicles absorbs the low-cal and that destroys the hair. When I read that 90 percent of laser hair removal patients who are good candidates for the process report permanent hair loss after an average of three to six sessions, I was sold. "Chewbacca be gone," I vowed to myself. "Next twelvemonth, I am getting my legs lasered."

My interest was specially piqued by the spate of calm laser treatments recently on the marketplace. Could it be that easy? An investigation into the leading brands revealed some intriguing contenders, from the Tria 4X (an FDA-cleared device that claims to deliver more than triple the hair-eliminating free energy of its DIY peers) to the IluminageTOUCH (which is approved to safetly treat a wider of skin tones than traditional lasers). Simply while the convenience of zapping away on my couch while watching Law & Order: SVU was seductive, none seemed quite right. I can barely operate my electric kettle—should I really be handling a laser?

Board-certified dermatologist Jessica Weiser, M.D., who I eventually approached, is also dubious about the at-home models. "I advise caution because they're supposed to be much less intense than in role lasers only in the incorrect hands you tin can probably do some serious harm if you lot're double- or- triple pulsing areas that y'all shouldn't be," she tells me. "Typically people at home tend to be aggressive with themselves because they remember that they tin can become a faster, better result without realizing potential consequences."

I opt instead for the New York Dermatology Grouping, where Weiser specializes in medical, surgical, and cosmetic dermatology. When I call for an appointment, I learned that in order to have bikini-worthy legs by Memorial Day I would need to get-go the laser process in elevation tights-and-boots weather. Soon, I'yard headed downward to their Flatiron offices for my first of six appointments—six, explains Dr. Weiser, to accommodate the pilus's growth cycles. "Hairs take a growth stage and also a resting and a falling-out stage," she says. "Some of the hairs are not there right now because they are in the rest stage and not every hair will answer to the pulses." Hence the need for multiple sessions, spaced nigh one calendar month autonomously, the typical length of a hair-growth cycle.

I get in at their role, a wide-open up space with stake pine floors, and am shown to Dr. Weiser's patient room, where she promptly asks if my legs are shaven.

"No!" I answer proudly, excited to show her that I wax instead.

"Hmm," Dr. Weiser frowns. "I demand the legs to be clean-shaven for the laser so nosotros'll have to shave them now," she continues, explaining that for next six months of my light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation treatment, I'll demand to exclusively shave my legs.

I am next instructed to put on a pair of bottle-green goggles while Dr. Weiser rubs ultrasound gel on my calves. Before nosotros brainstorm, she shares with me the one description of light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation pilus removal I have heard before: "It feels like a rubber band being flicked against your pare multiple times."

Either I am wrong, or my pain threshold is incredibly low, considering I find light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation hair removal excruciatingly uncomfortable. In fact, I showtime to remember, I would take a flick of a prophylactic ring any day over the repeated called-for zap of the laser. Afterwards the kickoff few zaps, I squirm so much Dr. Weiser has to finish. Information technology feels like someone is taking a lit match to my leg and holding it up close. The darker the hair, she explains, the coarser it is; therefore more free energy is emitted onto that follicle, causing greater discomfort. When those hairs are zapped, it feels similar a bee sting—and you lot just have to hope at that place aren't too many.

The whole procedure is a scrap like whack-a-mole; information technology seems at that place's e'er another hair to quash. Just Dr. Weiser is calm and methodical, her laser moving up and downwardly the leg in directly lines. The racket of the pulses is like the trounce of a metronome or a very fast lift that beeps at every floor. (On my 2d visit, I remove my silk blouse in club to avert unnecessary dry cleaning.) But with each subsequent visit, it gets progressively easier, partly because I am becoming more used to the process and partly because there is less pilus to zap.

Clearly I'm not solitary in this. Most half a million laser treatments were performed by dermatological surgeons in 2011 (the final twelvemonth that collected data is bachelor) according to the American Lodge for Dermatological Surgery, then it must exist worth the pocket-size suffering. Well-nigh people who get light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation treatments are focusing on smaller areas of hair—underarm, upper lip, bikini line. These areas also happen to exist much more sensitive: The very idea of getting my bikini line. These areas also happen to be much more sensitive. The lower leg, on the other hand, is ane of the largest areas that they laser and it takes about 25 minutes altogether for both legs upon each visit.

By my third appointment I begin to meet a real difference. The laser picks upward a lot more "energy" as Dr. Weiser says, and I detect the whole experience far less painful. For several days post-obit each treatment, I have a series of small red bumps on my legs and this really elates me because I know it means that the laser has picked upwards that follicle and when the redness dies down that spot will exist hair-free for life—a delightful thought every bit summer, and a season of confidently wearing my favorite Isabel Marant silk-chiffon mini-skirt, begins.