OK, this might cause a bit of controversy! As many of you know, I’m not a fan of the SHR technique. Why? Because I think it’s very inefficient in the hair removal process. So I made this little video to explain my thoughts on this technique. If you have other thoughts and ideas, please let… Continue reading SHR – how good is it?
“Pain free” hair removal. Is it real?
We often hear, these days, about “pain free” hair removal, with various lasers, usually diodes. But, is it true? Well, let’s look at this more closely… The aim with laser, or IPL, treatment of hair is to induce enough heat in the stem cells that stimulate hair growth in the follicles. To do this, we… Continue reading “Pain free” hair removal. Is it real?
Selective Photothermolysis – an in-depth explanation
Back in 2016 (I think) I gave a talk to the American Society of Lasers Surgery and Medicine about the theory of Selective Photothermolysis. This is the theory which underpins all of today’s photothermal laser/IPL treatments. In this talk I discuss the idea behind thermal relaxation time and how it ‘fits’ with treatments. In fact,… Continue reading Selective Photothermolysis – an in-depth explanation
Laser/IPL Hair Removal – How many follicles do we kill each treatment?
All hair follicles grow according to a cycle – ‘anagen, catagen, telogen’. The follicle germative cells promote anagen hair growth at consistently regular intervals resulting in periods of active growth, followed by inactivity. The duration of these periods depends on the which part of the body is being considered. I created a computer model to… Continue reading Laser/IPL Hair Removal – How many follicles do we kill each treatment?
“The hairs grow back after the treatment…”
I often see laser/IPL users making comments like “the hair grows back after a treatment…”, or something similar. When we treat hair with light energy, we cannot expect to kill all of those in the anagen phase (laser/IPL light can kill only the anagen follicles). In reality, most operators might kill between 50 to 80% of… Continue reading “The hairs grow back after the treatment…”
More on the ‘best’ intervals between laser/IPL hair removal sessions…
Choosing the ‘best’ time between laser/IPL hair removal sessions is not simple. It depends on the hair growth cycles of the hairs we are targeting, which is not the same across the body. That means that we need to consider the body area when deciding how long to leave between sessions. We can only target… Continue reading More on the ‘best’ intervals between laser/IPL hair removal sessions…
What is the ‘best’ interval between hair removal sessions (after treatment by lasers or IPLs)? Part 2.
I wrote a blog post back in September 2021 discussing my thoughts on the how to determine the optimum interval between laser/IPL hair sessions. It proved very popular amongst my readers. But, as soon as I posted it I began to doubt my own conclusions. Back then I suggested that we should wait for an… Continue reading What is the ‘best’ interval between hair removal sessions (after treatment by lasers or IPLs)? Part 2.
How strongly are different laser wavelengths absorbed in melanin and blood?
These days we use a wide variety of lasers and IPLs to treat various targets in the skin. Two major targets are hair and blood vessels. But how much of the laser/IPL light is actually absorbed by these targets? Using data from two very clever scientists (Steve Jacques and Scott Prahl) it is relatively easy… Continue reading How strongly are different laser wavelengths absorbed in melanin and blood?
The world’s FIRST ever commercial laser tattoo patient…
The other day I was training some very nice ladies and showed them a couple of photos of a tattoo I had treated with a Q-switched ruby laser. I realised, as I was talking to them, that this tattoo was the very first tattoo to be treated in our new, commercial clinic. Prior to this… Continue reading The world’s FIRST ever commercial laser tattoo patient…
The ‘best’ way to cool the skin during laser/IPL treatments
Many laser and IPL treatments require a significant temperature rise in the target cells, to effectively kill them. We use light energy to induce this temperature rise. But, calculations show that, in some cases, less than 1% of the light energy is actually doing the job we want. That means that more than 99% of… Continue reading The ‘best’ way to cool the skin during laser/IPL treatments
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