Page 101 - Chapter 3 - An Introduction to Laser/IPL Hair Removal

Chapter 3 – Fundamentals of Laser/IPL Hair Removal 1st Edition
We wrote a paper on this topic back in 2013 (published in the journal ‘Lasers in Medical Science’, 29 (3), 973-978 – you can see it here...
We are planning to write more on this topic soon.
In it, we discuss the Arrhenius equation and how it applies to hair removal treatments. It has proved to be a very popular paper and has been read more than 9000 times by other researchers across the planet, to date.
Mike presented this research at the BMLA Conference in 2022 in front of a number of puzzled- looking delegates...
Follicle sizes and TRTs
So, how does this apply to hair? Well, according to researchers, the diameter of hairs can range from 8 to around 100 microns. This is the size of the hair shafts, not the follicles. Remember, when we apply light treatments to hair, we are trying to heat up the melanin in the hair shaft since we know it can absorb light energy.
The melanin in the hair shaft becomes hotter than its surroundings, and this heat energy then conducts outwards to the stem/germ cells on the surface of the follicles. These are the real targets that must be destroyed to kill the follicles. But, unfortunately, they do not contain any chromophore which we can target directly, hence we need to use the melanin in the hair shaft itself.
Table 23 shows the difference between the TRTs and the denaturation times for two hair diameters. The denaturation times are the times that those hairs must be maintained at 70oC and 80oC to ensure complete destruction of those follicles (i.e. the stem/germ cells can be destroyed).
________________________________________________________________________ 101 Chapter 3 Laser/IPL Hair Removal
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