Laser ablation of unwanted hair introduced at DMCH

June 15, 2006

Ludhiana, June 14: Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) introduced a laser technology for cosmetic surgery. The department of plastic surgery at present has different lasers for removal of hair, tattoos, post-wine stains, acne marks, freckles, pigmented lesions like birth-marks, corns, warts and fine visible veins over face and limbs etc.

Dr Ashok Gupta, professor and head of the department of plastic surgery, stated that hair loss was an incidental finding when lasers were introduced into medical cosmetic surgery for the treatment of skin blemishes and birth marks. Lasers and flash lamp technology, now introduced in the department of plastic surgery at DMCH, has offered a potential for rapid, safe and effective treatment of the unwanted hair.

He added that the delay in growth of hair that provides a few months of hairless skin is far more reliably achieved than permanent hair loss with IPL lasers. But the long pulsed Nd-Yag lasers have shown good results of permanent hair removal after few sittings of a month apart.

Dr Gupta said the effectiveness of permanent hair reduction correlated strongly with hair colour and fluence. ‘‘Eighty to ninety per cent of permanent hair removal or long term hair reduction had been seen with fair skin and dark hair people,’’ he claimed.

Normally each sitting of laser therapy gives an average of 20-30 per cent hair loss permanently, according to the surgeon. It has been seen that one to two sittings of laser therapy makes growth of hair thinner and lighter in colour. ‘‘Once growth rate is decreased, total number of hair also decreased gradually depending upon the skin type and the stage of growth phase,’’ he said.

He said the laser therapy was painless, without much side effects and better than weekly or fortnightly waxing or plucking of hair, use of razors or hair-removal creams etc. The patient undergoing laser therapy should stop plucking hair, waxing or electrolysis two to three weeks before treatment. Bleaching of hair should be stopped a month or two earlier. The post-laser care is essential in all patients.

To date, there is no one laser hair removal system that can remove every colour hair, including grey and white, Dr Gupta stresses. Successful hair removal by laser depended on skin type, anatomic location, hair colour, hormonal factors, stage of follicle growth cycle and diameter of hair shaft, he explained.

He said that complications like pain, edema, erythema pigmentary changes, blisters, searing and pili bigeminy were sometimes encountered, but most of these undesirable skin affects occur in persons with tanned skin. ‘‘But usually these heal without leaving any permanent scars. Most of its effects can be avoided by use of appropriate intra-operative technique and adequate post-operative management,’’ he said.

Source:http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=188095