Page 34 - Chapter 3 - Laser/IPL Hair Removal

Chapter 3 – Fundamentals of Laser/IPL Hair Removal 2nd Edition
Skin Colour 6 – ‘Black’ skin
It is important to note that when treating black skin it is not easy to detect erythema (reddening of the skin). Therefore, particular care must be taken when observing the reaction of black skin to light therapy.
In black skin the stratum corneum is typically thicker than in paler skin. Pigmentary granules are usually present in desquamating cells of black skin, but not of white skin. Black skin is also more prone to the formation of keloid scars. A keloid is an excessive formation of scar tissue at the site of an injury to the skin. Keloids can continue to grow and harden for several months after the initial injury.
It is particularly important to ensure that any client with black skin undergoes the test patch procedure and that they are carefully informed of the potential side-effects resulting from this type of treatment.
Note that dark skinned clients will feel more sensation with laser/IPL treatment simply because of the higher absorption of light energy compared with lighter skin colours. Therefore, they typically require more skin surface cooling than normal. However, it may simply not be possible to cool black skin sufficiently for this treatment, due to the high melanin concentration!
Skin colour = epidermal melanin content
The darker the colour, the higher the temperature in the epidermis during laser/IPL treatments – more potential damage
Hair Colour vs Skin Colour – How are they related?
Hair colour comes from melanocytes in the follicle and is generated during the anagen phase of growth. Many factors have an effect on the amount and concentration of melanin produces including age, state of health, body site, hormonal issues etc. But, in general, the melanin concentration in the hair is typically greater than found in the basal layer of the skin (except when considering grey and white hairs!)
The difference in concentration between hair and the skin depends on both the hair colour and the skin’s natural colour. The ratio between these can be seen in Table 7:
________________________________________________________________________ 34 Chapter 3, Ed. 2.0 Laser/IPL Hair Removal
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