Laser hair removal is a very popular laser procedure that people can have at home or in a clinic, hospital, or even in a salon. The procedure works by heating and burning the hair follicles to destroy them and prevent future growth. Now, because of this burning process, the skin is bound to get affected in one way or another though the procedure targets the follicles only.
Burns from Laser Hair Removal
- Burns are actually among the most common side effects of laser hair removal.
- One of the major explanations why burns happen is that the mechanism in the laser hair removal does include heating up the follicles. Thus, heat is produced from the device to the follicles. There is always a big chance that the skin will be heated up, too. Bear in mind that heat could dissipate quite quickly, easily affecting the skin after it reaches the follicles.
- Another reason is that the patient is not an ideal candidate for the procedure. One of the main examples of this problem is that the patient has dark skin. Now, the laser may not be able to discriminate the skin from the hair follicles, causing the skin to burn along with the follicles.
- The burns may hurt a lot but the pain will eventually subside within a few days after the treatment.
- Often, if the patient does experience burns, these will be on the first degree and are easy to recover from. These do not require extensive treatments except to alleviate the pain and to prevent blistering and scarring.
- Rarely, patients may experience second degree burns due to a number of factors, including miscalculations and wrong calibrations of the laser equipment.
Rash from Laser Hair Removal
- As with the burns, rashes are also a common occurrence after laser hair removal. Again, the reason for this is that the skin can also heat up with the heating up of the follicles. The skin may not have burns but could have red rashes that may spread across all of the area treated or in just some portions.
- These rashes could easily go away by themselves about a week after the treatment. If the rashes persist, it might be a good idea to consult a doctor as this could be a very serious side effect.
- There are patients who are more prone to developing rashes than experiencing burns from the laser procedure.
- Still, it is always important for the patient to follow all the instructions that he/she must do weeks before and after the procedure will be or was done to help minimize side effects such as rashes.