Question:

I have about a dozen scars on my shins due to chemical burns (from Nair Hair removal cream) and electrical burns due to bad electrolysis. All of the scars are small (about pea sized) and shallow rather than raised, and are very discolored–brownish purple while I am very fair skinned. I’ve tried silicone sheets to reduce the scarring, but it hasn’t worked at all. I REALLY want to get rid of the discoloration, and would love to get rid of the shallowness, also, but it’s the discoloration that bothers me more. What type of surgery (dermabrasion?) could help with with these scars, and what’s a rough estimate of the cost? I hope you can help me. I can’t go another summer in pants every day, but I can’t bear to wear shorts with all of these ugly scars. Thanks for any help you can give me.  Maddy

Answer:

Dear Maddy, The pigmentation can be readily removed with lasers although that will do little for the textural skin changes. You may wish to have the larger ones surgically removed to leave a fine scar that is level. The former should not cost too much – I charge $20 per spot per treatment with about 3 or 4 treatments required to lighten the pigmentation. The surgery costs about $200 per scar.

Question:

I am a young female with a hair growth problem on my chest area and on my breasts. I would like to get rid of the hair, and get rid of the discoloration on the skin in this area. I know this may require two different procedures to correct. I have already done electrolosis but it caused more dark spots in the area and the hair grew back. I would like to know what procedures I should consider to possibly correct this problem if it can be corrected at all.

Answer:

I would get laser hair removal if I were you. The only way this wouldn’t work would be if the hair were very light or very fine. As long as the hair is darker than your skin one it will work. In addition, it should improve your pigmentation problems. The main drawback of laser treatments are that you need multiple treatments and they can get expensive. Make sure that you go to a reputable doctor and not some salon to have this done.

Question:

I am a 23 years old african american male with a problem with razorbumps. What can I do? Should I continue use of topical treatments or should I go ahead with the laser hair removal treatment? If so, What are the various costs for such a procedure? I do not want the chance of any reoccurence so I guess the laser treatment is the best option to go with.What do you think? I have been currently been using benzamycin, but the problem still reoccurs.

Answer:

I would go with laser treatment. It is the easiest and fastest. BUT make sure the folks you go to are very experienced with african american skin, or seek out someone with a 1064 laser, as these are less likely to cause problems. Nothing is forever, so you may need occasional maintenance treatments to keep it away, but it works wonderfully for what you have. Find a doctor who does laser at www.aslms.org. Costs vary widely, but I recommend you go to a physician with a good reputation, even if he/she is not the one actually doing the procedure. You may pay a little more for it, but you are much less likely to have problems than if you go to a laser hair removal salon that says they have a doctor but one is never there!

Price for the service of laser hair removal depence on the size of the procedure. More parts to remove hair-more cost. And the prices vary from one to another laser hair removal saloons. The best way to choose the right service provider is to go to your closest where you live. You can also ask your friends to recommend it to you from their experience or check online if they have any website and guestbook where people can write their experiences.

Prices for laser hair removal are not too high since the effect is really satisfied and long lasting. Of course the procedure costs more than razors but you will be surprised how effective this procedure is.

And the beauty of laser hair removal is that you can choose any part of your body and make your hair disappear for ever. You will notice that after every meeting at your beauty saloon you will have less and less hair.

Facial Hair Removal for Women

We see so many men with beard and moustaches all the time, but how would it feel to see a woman with hair on the face?

It is too embarrassing for a woman, even if there is slight upper lip growth or unthreaded eyebrows then what to say if she has prominent hairs all over her face. For almost all the women, there are just soft hairs on the face, but in a few exceptions some women can also have very much thick growth of hairs on the face. Different techniques used for Facial Hair Removal for Women are very much in demand in today’s world.

Understanding hair growth

Before we discuss more about removing facial hair, it is important to know the different types of hair. A protein called keratin make up our hairs; it is a hard protein and is also present in toe and finger nails. We have two kinds of hairs on our body:

The first kind of hairs is known as Vellus. These are very small in size and are soft hairs. The hairs that you see on face, chest, back areas etc, belong to this category. You might wonder, if they are there for any purpose; yes, they do have a purpose; they maintain the temperature of the body by providing adequate insulation.

The second category of hairs is known as Terminal. They are darker in colour than Vellus, and are also coarser. The hairs seen on armpits, pubic and head areas belong to this category.

Here, we list down different techniques used for Facial Hair removal for women:

Waxing:

This method is one of the oldest and still the most popular technique used by women to remove excess facial hairs. Melted wax is applied to the area of excess hairs, and then immediately the layer is pulled off to remove the hairs. Cold waxing technique uses strips for hair removal, and sugar wax type uses cotton strips.

Threading/Tweezing:

Tiny hair follicles are best removed by the tweezers. Threading is also used to achieve the same results.

Hair inhibitors:

Hair inhibitors are used to slow down hair growth rather than removing them. The hairs thus treated are thinner and growth rate is decreased significantly.

Electrolysis:

Some people find it too bothering to visit a beautician every time for hair removal. For such people several techniques have been developed for permanent hair removal; electrolysis is one of them; although, the process can have some side effects.

Laser hair removal:

The other very popular technique used for permanent hair removal is laser. It is far better than electrolysis. The laser beam targets to kill the hair follicle. The technique is best for light skinned people. It usually requires multiple sitting. Now a days, we see laser hair removal advertisements everywhere; however, it is important that you go for this treatment only with experienced personals, even if it means paying a little bit more. Novice can end up burning your skin.

There are plenty of  Facial hair removal choices for women it is up to you to decide which one works best for you.

Growth cycle and colour of your hair

This article would cover and provide information on growth cycle and colour of your hair. The hair growth starts right at the time of birth and continues till a ripe age.

How do the hairs grow, and what is this growth cycle?

Your hair follicles grow through three different cycles, and each hair goes through these 3 cycles, 20 times, on an average. The three phases are known as:

ANAGEN

CATAGEN

TELOGEN

Let’s have an in-depth look on what happens during these cycles:

ANAGEN

Also known as growing phase, this is the first stage of any hair growth’s cycle. At any given time, it can be safely said, that up to 90% of hairs on a healthy scalp, are in this phase. During the Anagen phase, the hair follicle keeps growing continuously; the growth continues for up to seven years. The hair pigment is produced by the hair bulb; the rate of the growth, on an average, is half inch in a month.

CATAGEN

At the second stage, when first phase, the ANAGEN phase, is finished, the hairs enter a transitional phase, before they finally go to rest. This is a very short phase, lasting for only two to four weeks. During this transitional phase

The hairs are detached from the blood supply. Thus, detached follicle shrinks by 1/6th of its normal size

No more pigment is produced by the hair bulb

At any given time, up to 3% of the scalp hairs are in this stage.

TELOGEN

After Catagen, the hair follicles enter their last and final stage of Telogen. Sometimes Telogen, is also called the resting phase. In this stage, the hair follicles fall off and are replaced by new growth of hairs. At any given time, up to 15% of hairs are in this stage. The duration of this period is around 3 months, before the hair follicle eventually falls off. The new hair follicles appear in the place made vacant by fall off of the old hair.

We promised to give you information on growth cycle and colour of your hair, now that, the growth cycle of a hair has been described, we would explain about colours of the hair.

Colour of our hair

What gives the colour to our hairs? What is that which determines the shades of our hair? And why do our hairs finally turn grey?
The natural colour of hair is determined by the amount of melanin, which is present in everybody’s hair. The more the amount of melanin you will have, the darker your hairs will appear. The melanin present in our hairs is of two types:
• Eumelanin
• Phaeomelanin

Eumelanin is a pigment black-brown in colour and determines the intensity. Phaeomelanin, on the other hand is responsible for blonde hairs or redheads.

Our hairs start to turn grey naturally as we age; this happens due to decreased production of melanin in the hair roots. But hair greying can also happen due to genetics and other factors; therefore, ageing is not the only factor determining the grey hairs.

We hope, this article would have served to give you some idea about growth cycle and colour of your hair.

Brazilian laser hair removal

Women have been always aware and conscious about their looks. In earlier times, it was the face, which was the primary focus of care, but these days, legs, hands or even bikini line, should look clean, beautiful and hair free.

Waxing has been the most common way of hair removal in recent times; however it is painful, time consuming and really boring to go to parlours for waxing again and again. How wonderful it would have been if there was some way using which, one could get permanent hair removal. Good news is that one can get laser techniques used for permanent hair removal in different parts of the body. Brazilian laser hair removal is one such technique used to remove hairs permanently from bikini area.

This technique is not just meant for women, but men and women alike can derive benefit from Brazilian laser hair removal.

This technique is a recent advent relatively, and not many people are aware or comfortable with the thought of using laser technique to get a hair free and clean skin down there. However, there are many people who are opting for this technique to get permanently rid of those unwanted hairs in the bikini area.

Duration of the procedure

The procedure is very fast, and starts giving results in only 6 sittings.

Preparing for the first visit

You would need to shave the area which you want to be laser treated, until it gets smooth. You would also have to decide what shape you would want your pubic hair to be, for the rest of your life.

The first session

You would need to become a little shameless to get this treatment done. If you have not shaved properly, as mentioned above, the technician is going to get it done for you. The people giving best treatment apply a numbing cream to the area to be treated.

You would be required to wear safety glasses over your eyes. Be prepared to sense a breeze of an icy cold air, and then the zap of the laser. It is not so painful, but would depend on your tolerance levels also. The feeling would remind you of snapping of a rubber band against your skin. You can do certain things to divert your attention, like listening to a music.

Duration of the session depends on the volume of area being treated.

After care

The treated area is somewhat red and inflames up to 24 hours. You can apply some natural aloe vera or other moisturizer to treated area. The hairs would be growing back, but you would be able to pull them out very easily, as laser treatment leaves the follicles dead. If you want to see the permanemtn results, you would need to for five to six sittings. Some individuals might even require up to eight sittings.

Is it Safe?

Brazilian laser hair removal is relatively quite safe and effective. On your part, you should look for a good clinic with experienced personals. This is not a good place to save money.

IPL means Intense Pulsed Light. IPL treatments are in most cases referred to as photo rejuvenation, Photofacial or IPL Photofacial due to its use of “selective photothermolysis” during treatment. Photothermolysis is the process by which IPL lasers convert light energy to heat energy and treat unwanted hair and skin pigments. IPL lasers can use photothermolysis to remove unwanted hair, or to correct skin hyperpigmentation, rosacea, age spots and the appearance of sun damage.

Why is IPL Hair removal better than any other Laser Hair Removal treatment?

Unlike other types of hair removal treatments that use a single light wavelength concentration IPL lasers use a full spectrum of light wavelengths. IPL lasers can alter the intensity of its pulsed light beams with various filters, but it can’t be refined to a single wavelength. Some patients and professionals claim that the IPL’s greater wavelength spectrum equals less precision and less control, which could mean an increased risk of burns and hair removal side effects.

One of the biggest reasons why IPL lasers are so popular in the hair removal industry is the lower cost than in other laser hair removal systems. On average IPL treatments are cheaper than the standard cost of laser hair removal. Additionally, they can treat larger skin portions at a time, so areas like the legs and back can be treated in a fraction of the time required with standard lasers.

IPL lasers are more often recommended for skin treatments than for hair removal procedures. This is because greater precision is required to focus light energy on individual hair follicles as opposed to problem skin areas.

PERMANENT HAIR REMOVAL

Face is the index of mind goes an old saying. So you got to keep that face as beautiful as you can not just for the onlookers and people around you but a bright face gives self- confidence and when you are downcast a look at the mirror will energise you back. Such is the importance of maintaining a good face. Unwanted hair in face gets us irritated and how much ever we try it grows back. This applies not only to face, be it any part of the body, unwanted hair is always a nuisance. Here are some methods to get rid of them for good.

ELECTROLYSIS TECHNIQUE

This technique has been introduced long before so it is quiet an old contender. But it is as effective as the latest techniques. This process involves giving or inducing a small amount of electricity in to the core of the hair follicles so that they get destroyed and develop an inability to grow again. This is a simple process but a time consuming one. Moreover an experienced or trained professional got to work in this technique failure of which you are mprone to many side effects like reddening of skin, allergy and a lot more serious issues.

This technique is a relatively newer option and a widely used one at that. In this technique laser beam is sent in to the skin which penetrates in to the follicles and demoralize them. Hence there is less or no chance of the hair growing back leading to customer satisfaction. There are many types of laser techniques and the choice of a particular technique depends on the type of skin one possesses. This technique is a little more expensive than electrolysis as it involves use of pricey materials like ruby.

INTENSE PULSED LIGHT (IPL)

This technique is considered as an alternative to laser as it offers a better hair removal in less time. It uses the same principle of lasers but it sends light waves having differing wave length to be absorbed by the inner layer of skin as opposed to laser which send monochromatic waves (light wave of single wavelength). This procedure is more patient friendly as it produces only less pain.

These techniques may seem alluring but truth is that no hair removal technique provides permanent hair removal. The hair goes off temporarily but after a period it surfaces back in most cases. So before going for hair removal better think twice as these techniques by no means cheap and they involve harassing your inner skin which is the most sensitive layer of the body. There are myriad side effects, darkening of skin, formation of blisters and allergic responses to the treatments are some of them. So care should be taken to choose a good professional for this procedure to avoid mishaps and to keep your skin as soft as a petal of rose.

LASER HAIR REMOVAL MACHINES

Hair removal has become so common that people of all ages are tempted to give it a try in order to make them look young and pretty. Among the prevalent hair removal techniques laser method is one of the most successful technique available. So let’s see how this technique is carried on and about the machines involved in carrying out laser hair removal.

There is variety of laser techniques available and each method uses a unique device to achieve hair removal. The choice depends on the tone and colour of the skin. Because lasers have many side effects so if the correct procedure and equipment is not used then it may lead to disastrous effects. Here are some commonly used laser devices for hair removal

Q-switched Nd-Yag Laser

This technique involves use of a neodymium and aluminium fusion material which emits alternative pulses of red and green light. The red light penetrates deep in to the skin while the green light cures the pigmentation on the surface. This laser is used for people having darker skin tone without much side effects.

Diode laser uses small chips of Gallium-Arsenide a semiconductor material as the lasing medium. This laser is not suitable for dark skinned patients but can be readily used for light skinned or white skinned patients. The penetration power is slightly lower than Nd-Yag lasers.

This laser has a penetration power slightly higher than diode lasers but less than Nd-Yag laser. But it has enough incursions to delocalize and destroy the follicle and prevent the hair from growing back

This laser uses the expensive ruby or sapphire for the laser action. This too can be used only on white skinned patients. This laser has the lowest penetration of all lasers but causes less irritation and side effects due to the properties of ruby and sapphire which tend to have a soothing effect.

These are the various laser machines used for hair removal. Precautions should be taken before choosing the laser treatment. Many people tend to develop several side effects ranging from a small blister to a big wound. So correct method should be chosen which can be done only by a certified dermatologist. So do give your dermatologist a visit before going for this treatment. Sometimes the laser or strong light goes so deep down the skin that it causes potential harm because it damages the inner sensitive tissues and disrupts the body’s equilibrium. So only trained professional should handle this equipment to avoid such mistakes and having done all this and ensuring your safety then you can happily go about

having a laser treatment to make your skin look more beautiful and appealing.

TATTOO LASER REMOVAL

Tattoos have been the craze of youngsters from the starting of 20th century. Tattoos were prevalent before that period itself but permanent tattoos came in to existence during this time only. Several laser techniques and painful procedures were involved in getting a permanent tattoo. These tattoos cannot be erased unless another laser or multiple laser treatments are done. So it becomes a nightmare for people when they start to feel, tattoos are not cool after all. Ere starts the process or journey of tattoo removal. A large number of people wearing tattoos were reported to be either unsatisfied with their tattoos or being belittled because they are wearing what seems a stupid design. Try scratching apply creams and do whatever you can possibly do with it but still it cannot be removed. The only possible way of removing a permanent tattoo without much side effects and pigmentation is Laser tattoo removal.

When cheaper methods like dermabrasion, cryosurgery and excision are used the side effects will be numerous and one could not cope up with the degree of pain it involves and there is no guarantee that it will be a permanent removal.

So it is better to opt for a precise and less painful method, the laser removal. In this technique many types of lasers are used to get the desired results. Most commonly used laser is Nd-Yag laser which emits light in short bursts to remove off the tattoo pigment.

The mechanism involved in tattoo removal is a s follows. First the short burst of laser light which is deep enough to penetrate is administered which intrudes into the skin and dissipates or dissociates the tattoo pigment thus causing the tattoo to fade eventually as the dissociated tattoo is absorbed by the body and sent out as waste. The procedure may seem simple but it involves lot of pain and cost to undergo such a treatment. The speed of the Nd-Yag is ten pulses per second which means the pain will range from a harsh prick of a pin to a drop of acid put in your hand. So it is better to administer a local analgesic or even an anaesthetic if the patient is weak to prevent any suffering due to this treatment.

This treatment is a success in most cases but there are always exceptions in any fields. So in this treatment too sometimes tattoo cannot be removed and you are left with no other choice but to leave it as such. So think more than twice before Putting a tattoo which will save much of your money and the unwanted pain that you have to go through just for the sake of fancy.

LASER BIRTHMARK REMOVAL TREATMENT

Birthmarks are scars or skin marks formed in the fetus of the mother itself. When a baby is born these birthmarks are visible and they remain as such for about a year and they fade away gradually by themselves. But sometimes the birthmark may continue to exist throughout the lifetime of an individual. Usually birthmarks don’t require a treatment but in some extreme cases and for people who consider it as a disgrace or something which affects their personality then removal can be done by laser technique.

First lets us see the types of birth marks so that effective treatment can be given according to the type and intensity of it.

Haemangioma

This birthmark occurs due to the grouping of blood vessels in a particular region leading
to formation of a pinkish lesion or an elevated tumour like substance which are formed in
the neck, eyelids and in other parts of the face. They appear red or pink as they are supplied
with blood all through the day which makes their removal tough too. This birthmark can be
removed using pulsed lasers to an extent. If the tumours are too big and thick then laser will
have no effect on these tumours. Earlier diagnosis and treatment of haemangioma can easily
prevent the growth and formation of tumour.

Angels kiss also called as salmons patch is the formation of a dark or light coloured patches
in different parts of the body. These are temporary patches preset during birth and subside
gradually.

Port-Wine Stain

This is the advanced form of angels kiss wherein the patches formed will remain in the skin
forever. The colour of the patches may vary from cream to pink colour. Sometimes they are
formed even in facial parts thus forcing us to undergo a treatment in order to set it right. Nd-
Yag laser is used for this purpose which darkens the light patches and lightens the dark ones
accordingly. The treatment cost depends upon the size of the patch and the place where the
patch is present. Because when the patch is in face a more professional help is required for
accurate and precise treatment.

These stains and patches need not be removed necessarily but when these patches become
a threat to our personality then there is no other way but to adhere to this treatment. The
patches will need multiple laser treatments to come back to normal or match the tone of the
skin exactly. But no 100% assurance can be given. The results depend upon the nature of
patches and health condition of the individuals. So it is better to consult a physician before
undergoing a laser treatment to ensure whether it is safe for your skin.