Page 150 - Chapter 3 - An Introduction to Laser/IPL Hair Removal

Chapter 3 – Fundamentals of Laser/IPL Hair Removal 1st Edition
This means that they will inevitably miss some areas and overlap other areas – leading to very patchy results and excessive pain (probably). It is much better to adopt a ‘grid’ approach, using a white skin pencil or something similar.
Such an approach will definitely yield better results overall, with happier customers.
This is particularly important when using the SHR or ‘in-motion’ technique. A white skin pencil should be used to mark out treatment areas. We recommend areas of 10 by 10cm. Scanning the laser/IPL tip in such small areas will generate much better results simply because the consistency is higher.
Why do we get poor results?
We tried to analyse why so many operators get poor results. There are a whole range of reasons but we managed to determine that the following were the most common:
Lack of fluence
This is the main reason why laser/IPL treatments do not work!! To cook the germ cells sufficiently such that they cannot regrow, their temperature must be raised to a point, and for the correct duration, so that ALL the cells are cooked.
But remember, a small increase in fluence will result in a large rise in temperature so increase this setting carefully!
Pulsewidth too short
This depends very much on your equipment but some lasers will output pulses which are very short (less than 5 ms). These are not as efficient in cooking the germ cells as longer pulses. We recommend using a pulsewidth between 5 and 50ms, if possible.
Some anagen follicles are missed
One of the most obvious reasons why hair ‘regrows’ is simply that those follicles were missed in previous treatment sessions. This is just down to poor placement of the laser/IPL tip on the skin – it’s easy to miss areas, but careful placement will minimise this.
Catagen and telogen follicles
When treating any body area some of the follicles are bound to be in either catagen or telogen phase. These will not be adversely affected by photothermal treatments. These follicles will most likely grow between sessions.
Dormant follicles missed completely
We all have dormant follicles in our skin. They will stay dormant until something triggers them into activity. These cannot be damaged by photothermal treatments.
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