Get Ready for Summer With Laser Hair Removal

While it’s not like we experience snowy winters, temperatures do drop here in southern California, and they’re not exactly ideal for swimsuits. Now that things are heating up, perhaps you want to see for yourself why so many people love laser hair removal.

While it’s called laser hair removal, we actually use the power of light to remove unwanted body hair. In 2023, more than 3.1 million intense-pulsed light (IPL)  procedures were performed in the United States, and a large chunk of these were for hair removal.

So, if you’re keen to ditch the razor and skip the waxing and plucking, we’ve got you covered. Here at our practice, Dr. Jonathan Zelken and our team offer a wide range of skin treatments, including laser hair removal.

Going straight to the follicle

With laser hair removal, we deliver pulses of light energy straight into the follicle of each hair. The pigment in these follicles absorbs the light energy as heat, and this heat temporarily disrupts the ability of the follicle to hold or grow hair.

Covering all of your hair growth

In most cases, we need to take several passes with our laser hair removal technology to ensure we tackle all hair in your target areas. The reason for this is that, at any given time, all of the hair on your body is in one of four stages:

• Anagen — growing phase
• Catagen — transition phase
• Telogen — resting phase
• Exogen — shedding phase

So, we take our first pass and target the active hair. Then, we follow up with more laser hair removal treatments over several weeks to ensure we catch new hair as it emerges.

Where we can remove hair

IPL treatments are noninvasive and safe in the right hands. Our team can remove unwanted body hair almost anywhere on your body, including your:

• Legs
• Armpits
• Mouth and chin
• Bikini area
• Back
• Chest
• Arms

Thanks to our Motus® AY laser system, which delivers incredibly precise bursts of energy, we can tackle body hair in the trickiest of places, such as between your eyes or even around your areolas.

We also want to point out that our advanced system works on all hair types, from coarse to fine, as well as all pigment types.

What to expect during your laser hair removal

As we mentioned, IPL is noninvasive, and the light pulses enter your skin without damaging the surface area. That said, you can experience some redness after your treatments, and your skin can be sensitive for a bit, so please protect the treated areas, especially against the sun.

The treatments themselves are quick as our Motus AY system offers superior accuracy, which means each pulse is hitting its target. The system also features gradual heating and cooling systems for pain-free hair removal.

It’s tough to say how long your laser hair removal treatments will be as this depends upon the size of the treatment area — a quick pass between your eyebrows will be much shorter than tackling your legs.

Wherever we’re working, we ask that you avoid any plucking or waxing before your laser hair removal appointments because we need to identify the hair follicles. You can still shave, as this only removes the shafts of hair above the skin, and we can still readily see the follicles.

Let’s look at the results

When it comes to results, laser hair removal can deliver smooth, hair-free (and bump-free) skin that lasts for months.

When the hair does grow back, it’s often finer than before, and this trend continues with each laser hair removal treatment. Gradually, your hair may stop growing at all in your treatment areas!

To get summer-ready with laser hair removal, we invite you to call Jonathan Zelken, MD, in Newport Beach, California, at (949) 432-4730, or you can request an appointment using our online booking tool.