For anyone who has had laser hair removal (LHR) over the past 10 years or more, the lasting impression was all too often… pain. LHR involves applying laser energy selectively to hair follicles under the surface of the skin, effectively destroying them. A buy-product of this application of energy is heat, with local nerve endings, skin and skin structures all possibly being affected. Patients have traditionally felt this in the form of heat and almost pinpoint pain at each follicle that is being destroyed. The possible side effects of this heat are burning, blistering, skin color changes or even scarring. In a nutshell, the main limitation for patients in the past has been pain and concern for other side effects, particularly in patients with darker skin types. Other limiting factors were duration of treatment, cost, and effectiveness.
- Pain – Cryogen cooling spray is integrated into the device so that literally each laser pulse is preceeded by milliseconds with a cooling and numbing spray to the skin. This massively decreases pain and also protects the skin from burning and other side effects. Our own staff and patients agree: sensitive areas such as the upper lip, underarms, and bikini are no longer painful to treat and treatments are no longer a “big deal!”
- Treatment time – The duration of each LHR treatment really has to do with how large an area is covered with each laser pulse (also called spot size). Clarity II has spots sizes over twice as large as previous lasers and thus, treatment times can be cut in half! This is particularly important for large regions such as legs or arms where treatment times were previously excruciatingly long. Now patients get in and get out — no big deal.
- Side effects – The main way of preventing side effects from LHR is using the correct laser wavelength and strength for a specific skin type (color of skin) and protecting the skin and its structures with cooling (see above). Clarity II uses two different types of built-in lasers for lighter skin or darker skin (including African-American skin) that are quickly switchable. This combined with a massive range of power settings allows for custom settings for each patient’s skin type and hair type (color and caliber).
- Cost – The new technology of the Clarity II comes at no extra cost than previous LHR treatments and packages; pricing has not changed for the past 10 years and includes large discounts for multiple treatment areas.
As you can tell, there is a lot that goes into making laser hair removal just laser hair removal. Our doctors at DCL have gone through all the issues for you and want to make your next treatment package a simple and effective one — as well as the last one you’ll need! Book an appointment today for a treatment by one of our doctors!
