Houston Medical Spa

The Medical Spa - Is Laser Hair Removal Painful?

As the hair follicle absorbs the laser energy, heat is produced, resulting in a sensation during the removal. This sensation hurts in certain areas of the body more than others. The thicker and darker the hair follicle, the more discomfort, because the hair absorbs more light. However, with successive treatments, the hair will become thinner and less dense. Therefore, the first treatment is usually the most painful.

The discomfort a patient feels during laser hair removal is highly variable. It is a total function of the patient’s skin type, the laser, density and thickness hair, the area of the body, and the individual’s tolerance to pain. In certain circumstances, numbing creams are available. However, the numbing cream will interfere with the patient’s ability to judge the discomfort associated with a treatment, which is generally an indication of progress when compared between treatments.

Discomfort is one of the main factors the administrator will use to determine the setting for the laser. Therefore, patients should not self apply numbing creams before the laser treatment, as it will be difficult to judge where the laser should be. In addition, while numbing creams are generally safe, applying them to large areas of the body can result in significant amounts of the medication being absorbed into the bloodstream. Therefore, it is best to have an experienced staff member apply the cream, so they can control he amount of cream applied.

Typically, discomfort does not limit an individual from receiving laser hair removal treatments. To schedule your laser removal treatment, contact the Houston medical spa expert Dr. Kim Vo of Dermagenix at 713-662-3376.