I became interested in laser hair removal some years ago as I heard patients, (and my wife), complain of unwanted hair, especially during swimsuit season. Many feel that waxing, plucking and electrolysis are too uncomfortable, tedious, and expensive for something that only resulted in temporary relief. Just as significantly, these methods, as well as chemical depilatories, often caused annoying rashes and ingrown hairs. It seemed that they also knew of relatives or friends who also had unwanted hair.

Up until the last few years there wasn’t really much to offer these people until the FDA approved the Lightsheer diode laser for permanent hair reduction. This was a huge benefit for those patients. It is important to realize that it is approved for “permanent hair reduction” since it often won’t permanently eliminate all hairs in the treated areas. Knowing this in advance, the vast majority of people are very pleased with a permanent drastic reduction in their hair and accept an occasional hair in the treated area. These hairs are usually finer, softer, and lighter than the ones they started off with. If someone claims to provide permanent hair “removal” they are making claims not officially allowed by the FDA.

In general it takes from 3 to 5 Lightsheer treatments for a satisfactory reduction in hair. In fact, if a patient has 5 treatments and still has more hair than he or she wants, we’ll do 5 more treatments for them at only 1/5 the regular price. Remember, we’re with you on this and want to do everything reasonable to ensure your satisfaction. After treating hundreds of patients since 1999 there are not many who haven’t had a good result. (If anyone can figure out why it doesn’t work 100% of the time let me know and we’ll both be famous).

In 2001 we added a new FDA approved upgrade to our Lightsheer diode laser that allows us to treat many black and tan people. I like to think that if we were any more advanced we’d be experimental. This is a great benefit to those who get “beard bumps”, or folliculitis barbae from shaving. If someone said they only had the money to do this once I’d discourage them from doing it at all unless they wanted to solve a shaving rash problem because the hair might not look that much different after one treatment, but one treatment will probably greatly reduce the problem of a shaving rash.