Mike Murphy's Blog

At the recent BMLA meeting in Liverpool, there was a rather worrying presentation on plume. A study by the University of Loughborough looked at the risks associated with the plume (smoke) generated during laser hair removal procedures.  An air suction system was used to collect the smoke particles arising from patients undergoing laser hair removal.… Continue reading Laser hair removal plume – How to minimise the risks

I’ve just completed my “Introduction to Laser Safety for lasers and IPLs” in the medical/aesthetic setting, booklet. You can find it here – Laser Safety booklet. It’s a free downloadable 24-page pdf, which discusses the various aspects of laser and IPL safety under current UK and EU regulations. It includes a description of the ‘Core… Continue reading My ‘Introduction to Laser/IPL Safety’ booklet

We often hear about ‘paradoxical hypertrichosis’ – unexpected hair growth – after laser treatments. No one seems to know why this happens. There is very little research on this topic too. So, what is going on? Well, I don’t think it is actually paradoxical hair growth at all. I think that, in many cases, we… Continue reading Paradoxical hair growth – is it?

I have been advocating the use of ice pre-cooling and post-cooling for a few years, with great success. Not only does the ice reduce pain, blistering and pigmentary changes, it also allows for higher fluences to be applied, safely. Higher fluences will always result in better success rates. It’s a ‘win-win’ situation! This talk discusses… Continue reading BMLA talk 2024 – Pre- and post-cooling is important in photo-thermal treatments in improving results and reducing pain and unwanted tissue damage

NOTE – In the first draft of this post, I made an error on my ratio calculations. This has now been rectified. As with all light-based laser/IPL treatments, we require a target (a chromophore) which will absorb the light energy preferentially. In hair, with the visible and near infrared wavelengths that we typically use today,… Continue reading What is the real target in hair when treating with lasers or IPLs?

What is the relationship between fluence at the skin surface and depth into the skin? This is very important. When we fire laser/IPL light energy into the skin, it encounters many, many, many atoms and molecules, which determines how that light will progress and where it will end up. As soon as it hits the… Continue reading How does fluence relate to depth in the skin?

A laser colleague of mine sent me a lovely wee gift – the “Neatcell” pen (thanks Neil!). The company’s web site is here (it’s full of contradictions and discrepancies!!). They claim that this device is a “picosecond laser”. I’m not so sure… Firstly, picosecond lasers are not simple devices. They use a technique called ‘mode-locking’… Continue reading Testing the “Neatcell Picosecond Laser Pen” device…