Page 68 - Chapter 3 - Fundamentals of Laser/IPL Hair Removal

Chapter 3 – Fundamentals of Laser/IPL Hair Removal 1st Edition
Conclusions
The risk graphs only serve to indicate where the risk of epidermal damage is greater. Like all risks, these can be mitigated - with proper skin surface cooling. If sufficient cooling is applied BEFORE the light energy is fired, then the risk of epidermal damage can be significantly reduced. Skin cooling AFTER the application is also necessary since our calculations reveal that more than 90% of the applied energy is not used to cook the hairs!
In summary, when trying to remove hair or blood vessels with light energy, we run the very real risk of damaging the epidermis. However, this can be properly managed if good skin cooling is also applied.
What are the settings we must choose and why?
There are five parameters (settings) we must consider when treating hair with a laser or an IPL (see Figure 23). These are wavelength, pulsewidth, fluence, skin cooling and skin pressure – this last ‘setting’ only applies to those systems which are in physical contact with the skin surface such as diodes and IPLs.
Wavelengths
This is easy – virtually all modern photothermal systems used for hair removal use red and infrared light energy. The main reason is that these wavelengths are reasonably well absorbed by melanin, but can penetrate deep into the dermis without damaging blood vessels.
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