The Centre, P.C. - Plastic Surgery Blog

What is a Laser? Part 3 - Tuesday, December 16, 2008

At The Centre, P.C., we have a variety of lasers for different types of skin treatment.

Laser Hair Removal

We offer laser hair removal, where the laser targets the melanin pigment within each hair. The heat sent into each hair is transmitted to the hair's follicle (root) where it creates inflammation. This inflammation signals the follicle to enter its resting phase. Hair growth has three phases: growth, transition and rest. Growth stops in the resting phase.

You might wonder how the laser can target pigment in the hair but not the skin pigment. This is always an issue with laser hair removal, and if you have light-colored hair on darkish skin the procedure does not work. It works best on dark hair with fair skin, but many people are somewhere in between. The procedure can be made to work for most people by using different types of lasers and by controlling how long the laser is applied. These are pulsed lasers and the pulses are set to shine long enough to heat hair but not long enough to burn the skin.

For complete hair removal, several visits are necessary, usually three to five. Hairs are not all in the same phases at once and at each treatment, all hairs in the growth phase are sent into their resting phase. This quickly makes hairs grow more thinly and less often. Maintenance treatments are usually required at long intervals.

Laser Tattoo Removal

We use a Q-Switched YAG laser for tattoo removal (Q-switching is a way of making pulses in the laser light and YAG refers to the elements used in generating the laser: please see What is a Laser? Part 1).

The laser targets the pigment in the tattoo ink. The laser pulses are too short to burn the skin's top surface, but instead pass through it to the cells deeper down which are dyed with ink. The ink, being pigmented, absorbs the laser heat and is chemically disrupted.

The body sends scavenger cells to pick up the pieces and carry them away. Over several weeks they are excreted. Repeat treatments will eventually remove all the ink, although yellow and green ink take longer and white may never be removed.

To learn more about the laser treatments we offer and about which ones would be good options for you, please contact our cosmetic surgery office for a personal consultation.