Unwanted hair on the face, arms, legs, bikini line, underarms, abdomen, and breasts. Particularly good candidates have dark hair and light skin -- darker hair absorbs the laser light most effectively, although laser hair removal is now effective for ALL types, including Asian, African American and even tanned skin
Unwanted hair on the back, neck, legs, arms hands, abdomen, chest and ingrown hairs on the face and beard.
Dr. Vistnes uses two lasers for unwanted hair removal -- The LightSheer and Cool Glide (Vantage) Systems and both are remarkable in their technology and application. While both successfully remove hair, the Vantage system from Altus Medical now allows darker pigmented patients and tanned individuals to undergo successful hair removal treatments with extremely minimal risk of injury to the skin.
LightSheer and Vantage systems emit a laser light which is absorbed by the pigment in the hair follicle of an active hair. The laser is pulsed - turned on for a fraction of a second -- just long enough to damage the hair follicle and prevent, or severely restrict, the re-growth of a new hair.
It is key to understand that hairs have a 3-phased life cycle - growth, regression and resting and that the laser works best on hairs in the active, growth phase. At the time of your treatment, many hairs will be in the stages of regression or resting, and therefore will be unaffected by the laser. These hairs will complete their cycle and spur a growth phase later on.
It is for this reason that a series of treatments is usually necessary at intervals of 4-8 weeks to achieve maximum reduction of hair. The number of treatments is totally dependent upon hormone levels and body site. Many patients are satisfied after as few as 3 treatments while others may have 6 or more treatments to achieve the desired results. You can typically expect a progressive reduction in the amount of visible hair with each successive treatment.
