Hair Removal Overview

Medical Evaluation for unwanted hair

Dr. Parvin Shafa’s experience in dermatology and internal medicine gives her the unique opportunity to evaluate each patient from a medical and cosmetic standpoint. With her extensive expertise, she is able to identify possible underlying health issues such as; hormonal imbalance during puberty, pregnancy, menopause, endocrine gland dysfunctions, polycystic ovarian disease, increased testosterone production and more.

Hair Removal Options

  1. Permanent: Laser hair removal, Electrolysis.
  2. Temporary: Rx cream to stop hair growth, waxing, threading, tweezing, depilation, shaving.

Why permanent hair removal?

Temporary hair removal is not the optimal method to get rid of unwanted hair because it can cause:

  1. Annoying ingrown hairs.
  2. Discoloration due to repeated skin irritation.
  3. Increase in hair growth activity.
  4. Hair re-grows quickly.
  5. Require a lifetime of maintenance.
  6. Long term cost and inconvenient.
  7. Most importantly is time consuming.

Why permanent hair removal?

Laser hair removal is an effective solution for unwanted hair. The equipment and process is specially designed to remove unwanted hair permanently, faster, with less discomfort and more reliability than other methods.

Why laser?

  1. For certain types of skin, hair and areas, laser results are unbelievably effective.
  2. Laser is fast with two shots per second. Each shot destroys any hair under one SQ cm under the tip of the laser.
  3. For most patients, laser is less painful than other hair removal methods.
  4. Over a long period of time laser is more cost effective.
  5. With laser, the risk of complications is almost zero in the hand of experts and good laser devices.
  6. With laser there is no risk of post treatment folliculitis (hair follicle infection), in-growing hair, itching with next cycle hair growth or cutting.

Electrolysis

Electrolysis is very slow but is an effective way of permanent hair removal. With the proper technique, electrolysis might be the best option to get rid of unwanted hair for individual cases. We have well experienced electrolysis available to serve you.

Why Electrolysis?

Based on type of skin, location of hair, texture and color of the hair, Laser might not be the best treatment option for permanent hair removal. Dr. Shafa will perform the initial consult and she might recommend electrolysis over laser hair removal. In general electrolysis might be better for:

  1. Very thin hair
  2. Very dark skin
  3. Areas such as the face and neck
  4. If patients report increase hair growth after previous hair removal procedures.

When is a combo treatment (both laser and electrolysis) recommended?

When hairs are thick and dark, laser is a better option. However after a series of laser treatments, thin hair re-growth may occur in certain areas of the body. And for these stubborn hairs, electrolysis is recommended.

For the electrolysis treatment, it is more difficult to target the dark and thick hairs. This type of hair requires more heat from electrolysis to damage the hair follicle which can be more painful and possibly increase the risk of scarring at the site of electrolysis. Electrolysis is also more time consuming than laser. Dr. Shafa will evaluate each patient carefully and may recommend beginning with laser and completing with electrolysis.

Alternatives to laser hair removal and electrolysis:

Other old hair removal remedies such as; waxing, threading , plucking, shaving, chemical depilatories (such as Nair), and bleaching are not a part of our medical office services. However, Dr. Shafa is more than happy to educate you and answer your questions in regards to any treatment options.

Ask Questions or Call us to make an appointment for a free consultation to see what is the best option for your individual case to permanently get rid of the unwanted hair.

 

Other Treatments

Laser Hair Removal | Electrolysis

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