Hair Removal with Alexandrite laser.
Hair follicles and pigment spots are heated by the light. Alexandrite laser hair removal is with a wavelength of 755nm highly effective. This is because the wavelength has a high absorption coefficient of the pigment while it is relatively low in water and hemoglobin (see graph). This means that hair follicles with melanin (pigment) will absorb the light better and thus be heated more compared to the surrounding tissue. Alexandrite laser has other advantages besides a very good absorption of the pigment, it also has high output power (high power) without the skin or other tissue damage, it is fast, you can cover a relatively large area in a short time and you can treat pigmented skin, but to a certain limit.

The instrument emits a very strong flash of red light. The light coming out of a hand piece held one centimeter from the skin. The red light penetrates into and through the skin, is absorbed in the dark pigmentation and at sufficient power output or time-released this in the heat. Dark hair contains much pigment and a hair is therefore strongly heated. This heat is led to the hair follicles walls and bottom thereby overheat and stop working. Also gives good results in the inward-growing hair.

Who can be treated?
People with black or too dark skin or dark tattoos should not be treated. This is because the dark skin and tattoos contain much pigment and the treatment is not only hair follicles but also the skin heated by the laser pulse which can damage the skin. Opposite case where the hair is very light or white hair has no pigmentation with the result that no light is absorbed in the hair and, hair follicle, which in turn leads to poor or failure of treatment results. Who has to dark skin or to light hair is determined by the therapist, possibly after the test treatment. The ideal patient has light skin with dark hairs. Blonde and grizzled respond less well to treatment compared to people with dark pigmented hair.

To think about before treatment
Reduce sunbathing. Dark skin is not the starting position for good results. The hair should be shaved or cut 2-3 days before. Treatment cannot be implemented if the patient has waxed away hair. After the waxing the hair must grow out for at least 1 month.

Processing
After some preparation it takes a few minutes to do the upper lip. A bikini line 10-20 minutes per side. Legs and other major areas may be assessed individually with respect to how tightly the hair grows. The coarse hairs must be treated more intensively, and it takes longer.

Number of treatments
Hair affected by age, vitamins, hormones and genes. Hair grows in cycles and hair follicles are either active or dormant. For the hair that grows on your head the growing cycle is up to 7 years and 90% of the hair is active (growing), while the remaining 10% is resting. Hairs on the arms and legs have an active growth cycle at 2-3 months and this is only 50-70% active. How much hair you have depends on how many hair follicles are in the active phase and how close they sit. How much hair will depend on how fast it grows and how long the growing cycle is?

How many treatments needed is dependent on how much hair has been in active or dormant phase. In most cases, however, around 3-6 treatments, sometimes more. The reason for this is that we treat only the active hair follicles. Dormant hair follicles lack pigment and are not heated by the laser pulses. Often we have many more dormant than active hair follicles.

Total treatment time
Usually you have a period of between 4-10 weeks between treatments. This is because you have to wait until the dormant hair follicles become active again. For the most part, it is no disadvantage to wait longer, because a treatment is more effective the more hair come out. The face can be treated more often and receive a shorter total treatment time. In some people it may, after 4-5 treatments, occur that it looks as if we suddenly have more hair. What is happening is that the remaining dormant hair follicles "activated" by the body and get started faster than they would have done without treatment. This does not mean that this method does not work but just to come to the end faster - reaching more hair follicles per treatment time and per shot.

Treatment Results
A hair becomes strongly heated and burns its follicle. If the damage is sufficient, destroyed hair follicles are rejected by the body. If the damage is less, the result may instead be that the hair follicles produce thinner or unpigmented hair, which can be less noticeable. There are a few people where the treatment does not work satisfactorily on. Therefore, you can never guarantee an outcome. But for most with dark hair and light skin, the results are very good. A large part of the hair is lost permanently after only a few treatments. The hair which is in the dormant stage is unaffected. It may be expected and it arrives at the next treatment and can be addressed then. But the result may be different in different parts of the body and can vary with age and hormonal status. Beard for example is more difficult to treat than the hair on the body. The hair follicles that are gone will not grow back again, but theoretically can stem cells in the skin build new hair follicles. Therefore, occasional maintenance is needed later.

Reactions during and after treatment
Most people feel that it feels slightly during treatment, most tended to describe the feeling that it tickle or sticking a bit but you get used to it. How much do you feel depends on several factors: where to treat, how much pigment is in the skin and how dark the hair is.

The method is based on the hair follicles to the addition of a burn, normally no more than a redness of the skin. As with all burns, it can heat an hour afterwards and it's nice to chill with something cold. Sometimes you will see a slight swelling and in some cases single water bladders, but these disappear within a week. Do not scratch if you get a blister for then they may become infected and if so, is a risk of scarring. Sometimes temporary pigment changes, especially of those who have a tan. It may also itch a few days afterwards.

Is the laser light dangerous?
Most lasers are not eye dangerous. In this case, the laser light pulses are so strong that it becomes mixed when you look at the skin where they meet. Both therapist and patient use safety goggles that filter out the red light. For the patient, it is sufficient to close our eyes or look away.

Abstract: Different ways to remove hair

Permanent methods
Ruby laser is the laser, which has proved to be most effective in terms of wavelength and absorption of the pigments. The disadvantage is that you cannot have as strong output and therefore not sufficiently damage the hair follicles compared with Alexandrite laser. It also has a small nozzle, which means that it takes relatively long time to do treatments. Irradia produced earlier this type of laser, but were then due to the Alexandrite laser because it’s superior efficiency, its speed, the ability to have a strong power output, and that it is "nice" with pigmented skin.

Alexandrite Laser has a wavelength that has a good absorption of the pigments. Alexandrite laser has mainly three major advantages, a strong power output so that the hair follicles damaged enough to not come back, can be used on pigmented skin (to a certain limit) and is especially fast. That is, a large surface area can be treated in a short time.

IPL (Intense Pulse Light) is a flash lamp that works the same way as the laser. However, IPL has a greater width of the wavelength (typically 600 nm - 1000 nm) which makes the light not only absorbed in the hair follicles but also has higher absorption of hemoglobin (found in the blood), pigmented skin and water compared with the Alexandrite laser. Therefore, there is a greater risk to other tissues in addition to damage hair follicles. The advantage is that you can cover a larger surface area in less time.

Electrolysis has long been the only method to remove hair permanently. It deals with each hair follicle individually by a needle entering into the hair follicles whereupon power is applied. This hurts and it takes time to treat larger surfaces. The treatment must be repeated to give a satisfactory result. Electrolysis requires great patience by both therapist and patient. Electrolysis is the only method available to remove white or very light hair.

Temporary methods
Shaving does not affect the nature of hair, or cycle. The downside is that it is a time consuming process that must be repeated frequently. A fairly common side effect is infection of the hair follicles and itching. You may even get stubble that sting.

Plucking provide better aesthetic results, but is painful and can cause infection of the hair follicles. The method is slow and impractical, especially on larger surfaces picked.

Waxing gives approximately the same results as plucking, but far better in wide areas. The result is a month or two but the process can be experienced painful and sometimes cause allergic reactions in the hair follicles.

As seen on graph IPL has a broad spectrum which means that in addition to that the light is well absorbed in the pigment it also absorbs the hemoglobin and water.

As shown in the diagram and explanation, is the Alexandrite laser wavelength with the most effective in terms of absorption coefficient of melanin (pigment) and low in both water and hemoglobin.

Hair removal and hair reduction with Alexandrite Laser
Hair removal by so-called photo epilation based on shooting strong light pulses to the skin. The hair has then preferably be shaved or clipped short. When the light penetrates the skin, is absorbed in the dark pigments and in the blood and other structures in the tissue. A dark hair who sits surrounded by its hair follicle can, if the strength of the light pulse is sufficiently high, heated so strongly that it damages or even destroy its surrounding hair follicle, then die and stop producing hair.

The method does not work on light hair, since pigmentation is so small that the absorption of light is low and thus the temperature too low to damage hair follicles. The optimal wavelength range for hair removal is between 670 and 755 nm since the absorption of melanin is high while the absorption in blood is as low as possible (see diagram).

Balance between damage to hair follicles as much as possible, so that they will not grow back, and the underlying blood vessels as little as possible is an important factor to consider.