Page 93 - Blog Posts v1

by effectively building up the temperature in that small(ish) area, using multiple pulses, the follicle temperatures do achieve a suitable temperature by the end of the procedure.
Dr Braun's idea was that by keeping the fluence at such a low level, the pain felt by the subject would be limited. However, the desired end-result would still be achievable by accumulating those laser pulses.
He also treated other areas using the more conventional 'stamping' technique, for comparative purposes.
You can read his report here - it's well worth a read.
Results
His results showed that his SHR technique compared very favourably with the stamping technique, with lower incidences of pain.
However, he also claims that there was no significant difference in the final outcomes of each technique - one is not any better than the other!
But, he missed something very important in this study, in my opinion. He neglected to investigate the effects of proper skin surface cooling.
The Importance of Cooling
The main reason why laser hair removal is painful is due to the high temperatures attained in the epidermal melanin as the light energy passes through to the deeper follicles. I discussed this in a previous post.
The skin's pain receptors are located just below the epidermal/dermal junction and usually sit at around the normal dermal temperature of 35oC. They trigger pain signals to the brain when they reach 45oC - only an 10oC increase! It doesn't take much laser/IPL energy to induce that much of an increase.
The solution is to pre-cool the epidermis before applying the light energy. Using icepacks or cooling devices can reduce the pain receptors temperature by more than 10oC, or more, with ease. This allows for higher fluences to be applied with less likelihood of triggering pain.
Cooling should also be applied after the treatment too because most of the light energy is not used in the hair removal process - it is 'swimming' around the dermis looking to heat, and damage, something...
Mike’s Blog Posts 93