Excess body hair in areas such as chest, face, tummy and neck is frustrating and embarrassing. Hormonal imbalance is one of the most common causes of abnormal hair growth. Other reasons are birth control pills, obesity, heredity, pituitary tumors, menopause and congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Also, certain medications such as anabolic steroids, anti-seizure medicines lead to unwanted hair growth on the face and other body areas
Lasers are useful for removing unwanted hair from the face, leg, chin, back, arm, underarm, bikini line, and other areas. However, you can't get laser done on your eyelids or the surrounding areas or anywhere that has been tattooed.
Lasers can selectively target dark, coarse hairs while leaving the surrounding skin undamaged.
Each pulse of the laser takes a fraction of a second and can treat many hairs at the same time. The laser can treat an area approximately the size of a quarter every second.
If you are planning to undergo laser hair removal, you should limit plucking, waxing, and electrolysis for 6 weeks before treatment. That's because the laser targets the hairs' roots, which are temporarily removed by waxing or plucking.
Laser hair removal uses a process called selective photothermolysis. Heat from a laser destroys cells that have a lot of pigment (color). Since dark hair has a lot of pigment, it absorbs the most heat. Hair transfers heat to the hair follicles and destroys them, so hair can’t grow.
A hair follicle has to be in its anagen, or growth, stage for the procedure to work. Follicles are in different stages at different times, so most people need multiple laser treatments.