What’s the Best Method for Permanent Removal Of Hair?

Of the large variety of depilation procedures that are available to men and women at this time, it is electrolysis and laser hair removal that have become the most popular. In this editorial we will look particularly at these two procedures and give you a complete comparison of laser versus electrolysis treatment.

Procedure
Electrolysis hair removal is an invasive procedure involving the insertion of a needle straight into each hair follicle. The needle is then used to apply a current to the follicle. This introduces discomfort and the danger of uncomfortable electric stimulus. Reduction of hair with laser, on the other hand, is a safe and non-invasive procedure incorporating the use of laser rays. As such, there is no physical hurt done to the skin at all. The lasers seamlessly pass through the skin and target the hair follicles to put them out of action.

How Much Will it Cost?
The pricing structure offered by cosmetic clinics is a multi-factor feature of both procedures depending upon:

-Area to be treated
-How many sessions are required
-Session length
-Pricing of each session

The cost of each session is sometimes cheaper for Laser Hair Removal vs Electrolysis but electrolysis is a fairly extensive process having longer session lengths and more sessions. This adds to the overall cost of the region being treated and so is ultimately significantly more expensive compared to laser hair removal. Long term,,Overall the Reduction Of Hair With Laser makes more sense in the terms of value for money having lower overall costs and often a more pliant cost structure.

Side Effects
After receiving electrolysis you have to take care of the skin in a careful way. Studies have shown that extensive skin injury can result if specific preventative treatment is not given to the skin. The other issue of being an invasive method is the skin infections. Side effects are hardly ever encountered with laser removal, and hardly any after treatment care is required. Darkening of skin, scarring or redness are short-lived effects which very quickly return to normal.

Will it Hurt?
As laser hair removal is a non-invasive method, there is no directly uncomfortable stimulus. Electrolysis hair removal being a skin penetrating method initiates a painful stimulus with each hair that is electrolyzed thanks to the presence of nerves in the skin. Reduction of hair with laser can be painful either if you have very sensitive skin or if you encounter a poorly trained laser clinician. On the plus side, any discomfort can be well minimized with laser hair removal pain management. With electrolysis on the other hand, discomfort is an unavoidable feature of the procedure.

How Long Will it Take?
The time required to finish the process of depilation in electrolysis is much longer, in order to get satisfactory results, as we’ve already covered. The biggest hurdle is in fact the number of sessions required to have full treatment. As an electrolysis specialist says “Electrolysis requires a series of sessions over a length of time. It’s not just a few sessions that are needed for complete treatment.” Reduction of hair with laser needs about 3 to 4 sessions for the full treatment. So electrolysis is a fairly lengthy and slow process.

Which Procedure is More Effective?
One major area of comparison is the question of efficiency. Electrolysis being an ancient method has had much time to be studied in terms of efficiency. Electrolysis, despite 120 years of background history, cannot guarantee permanent hair removal. Reduction of hair with laser on the other hand has shown at least 30-40% permanent hair removal of hairs after finishing treatment. Another advantage of laser hair removal is that it can be used with excellent results for the treatment of large areas such as the legs, back and chest.

Final Words
As we have discovered in this editorial, there are many considerations to be taken into account when comparing laser versus electrolysis treatment. While neither procedure can claim to be 100% effective in permanent hair removal, it is clear that laser hair removal has many strengths and advantages when compared to electrolysis.

Ingrid Preube
laser hair removal

Trackback URI | Comments RSS