Bayside Vein & Laser Center

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Bayside Vein & Laser Center
3104 Squalicum Parkway
Suite 103
Bellingham, WA 98225

Hair Removal

Who should choose IPL Hair Removal?

Anyone, male or female, who wants to reduce or eliminate unwanted hair growth. Women love the freedom from the routine of waxing and shaving legs, underarms, and bikini lines. Many women appreciate being able to permanently eliminate unwanted facial hair. Men often choose to eliminate hair on the neck, shoulders, back, chest, or underarms. And then there’s that pesky nose and ear hair! How nice not to be bothered with that anymore!

How does IPL Hair Removal work?

The IPL process uses intense pulsed light to gently remove unwanted hair by disabling the cells responsible for generating the hair. Pulses of light at specific wavelengths target the pigment in the hair follicles, which absorb the light energy as heat. Specific wavelengths of light can target both finer and coarser hair on all skin types.

Different spot sizes and concentrations of power can treat larger areas (back, chest, legs) as well as smaller areas (underarms, bikini lines, ear and nose hair). This patented technology transcends the older, painful hair removal treatments to deliver long lasting results. IPL treatments leave your skin looking and feeling smoother and silkier. Best of all, IPL treatments are a safe, fast, gentle and effective alternative method for hair removal.

How does the IPL process differ from electrolysis and laser hair removal?

Electrolysis is a much slower process. With electrolysis, a needle is actually inserted into each hair follicle, one at a time. Once inserted, an electric shock burns the follicle to retard growth, resulting in a small amount of scar tissue under the surface of the skin. IPL hair removal permanently disables the hair follicle without creating any scar tissue.

IPL hair removal treatments only use intense pulsed light energy. This is unique because it is relatively painless and unlike the laser hair removal process, IPL works equally well on most skin types. With the IPL process, we can gently treat hair in sensitive areas such as the lip or nipples while maintaining a healthy, normal appearance of the surrounding tissue.

Does the procedure hurt?

Because the light energy is absorbed by the hair follicle as heat, you will feel a warm to hot sensation with each pulse. For your comfort, we use a cooling roller on the skin during treatment to minimize this sensation. Intensity can be adjusted to individual comfort levels.

IPL hair removal treatments are relatively painless, yet effective. Treatments can last from a few minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the area being treated.

What can I expect after treatment?

Hair removal appointments are quick, and you can return to work or other activities, looking and feeling fine! Generally, there are no after effects that cause concern.
Immediately after treatment, hair stubble in the treated areas will be stiff and bristle-like and will fall out in a few days. The use of sun screen is recommended on any treated areas exposed to the sun.

How permanent is IPL Hair Removal?

The hair follicles that are disabled by the infra-red light in each treatment are permanently disabled; they will not generate new hair again. Because hair growth occurs in cycles, your hair follicles that are in a dormant phase at the time of treatment are not affected because there is no hair growing out of them at that time to absorb the light energy. As they come into their active phase, they will generate hair which will need to be treated during the active phase. For this reason, multiple treatments are necessary at 4-6 week intervals to catch all the cycles of hair growth in their active phase. You should experience significantly less hair growth each time.

How many treatments will I need?

The number of treatments you may require for optimal long-term benefits depends on the area you wish to have treated, the hair density and your hair's growth cycle. Age, ethnicity, weight, hormones, diet, medication and metabolism all play a part in your hair's location, thickness and resilience.

Some people completely eliminate hair growth in 3-5 treatments, while others may require 6-8 treatments. In a few cases, there is a minimal amount of new hair after a period of years, but a quick and easy “touch-up” treatment will take care of that.

Find out if you could benefit from this procedure.

Schedule your free aesthetic consultation by calling Bayside Vein & Laser Center at 676-1225 or click here to submit an easy online appointment request.

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