What’s the Future for Home Laser Devices?
In a recent issue of the journal Seminars in Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery, Darryl Shaw Hodson, MD, takes a comprehensive look at home laser and light devices for hair removal. He notes that although all currently available data (both peer- and nonpeer-reviewed) show these devices to be safe and effective, more studies are needed to validate their safety and efficacy.
Most studies to date have been conducted not in the patients’ home, Dr. Hodson observes, but in the artificial setting of the research environment, where someone is readily available to answer the patients’ questions—and to rescue them from mistakenly harming themselves with these devices.
Dr. Hodson writes:
“The true test of knowledge may not be whether a patient can properly discharge laser energy to the skin but whether the individual can recognize pitfalls before a complication occurs. It is not clear from the literature available that patients can do this. As an example, slight graying of the skin can occur if excessive energy or inadequate cooling is used during hair removal. Most laser experts can recognize this change before a large area is treated and adjust accordingly so that any side effects are minimal. Although the color change is typically obvious to laser experts, it remains to be seen whether patients can detect these subtleties.”
Still, Dr. Hodon believes that as these devices become smaller, safer, less expensive and easier to operate, their use by patients will increase—and for purposes other than hair removal. “Results from home use devices are impressive but still inferior to office-based lasers and light devices,” he writes. “It is likely that home lasers and intense pulsed light devices will eventually receive other indications because many of these devices use wavelengths similar to currently available office based equipment.”
Source: Hodson DS. Current and future trends in home laser devices. Semin Cutan Med Surg. 2008:27:292-300.
Most studies to date have been conducted not in the patients’ home, Dr. Hodson observes, but in the artificial setting of the research environment, where someone is readily available to answer the patients’ questions—and to rescue them from mistakenly harming themselves with these devices.
Dr. Hodson writes:
“The true test of knowledge may not be whether a patient can properly discharge laser energy to the skin but whether the individual can recognize pitfalls before a complication occurs. It is not clear from the literature available that patients can do this. As an example, slight graying of the skin can occur if excessive energy or inadequate cooling is used during hair removal. Most laser experts can recognize this change before a large area is treated and adjust accordingly so that any side effects are minimal. Although the color change is typically obvious to laser experts, it remains to be seen whether patients can detect these subtleties.”
Still, Dr. Hodon believes that as these devices become smaller, safer, less expensive and easier to operate, their use by patients will increase—and for purposes other than hair removal. “Results from home use devices are impressive but still inferior to office-based lasers and light devices,” he writes. “It is likely that home lasers and intense pulsed light devices will eventually receive other indications because many of these devices use wavelengths similar to currently available office based equipment.”
Source: Hodson DS. Current and future trends in home laser devices. Semin Cutan Med Surg. 2008:27:292-300.
posted by DrHr at 2:43 PM
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