Laser Hair Removal Treatments Well-Tolerated in Children, Study Shows
Using lasers to remove unwanted hair in adults is known to be safe and well tolerated, but what is the safety and tolerability of the procedure in children? Children also have conditions, including hypertrichosis and hirutism, that result in excessive hair, which can lead to significant psychosocial distress. Families often resort to extreme measures to minimize the undesired appearance of unwanted hair, including neonatal shaving, trimming, plucking, bleaching and waxing. Increasingly, parents have turned to laser hair removal treatments for their children, despite the lack of extensive investigations into its safety and efficacy for this age group.
In an article in the journal Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, British researchers describe their experience with laser hair removal in 24 children under the age of 16 years. Depending on their skin type, the children received a minimum of three treatments with a long-pulse alexandrite laser (with either continuous chilled-air cooling or cryogen cooling) or a long-pulse Nd:YAG laser (with either a chilled contact sapphire tip or cryogen cooling).
The mean age of the children was 12.3 years. They were diagnosed with constitutional hirsutism (14 patients), polycystic ovarian syndrome (5), congential melanocytic naevus (2), generalized hypertrichosis (2) and naevoid hypertrichosis (1). Before the treatment, 1 patient required a general anesthetic, 8 required a topical anesthetic, and 15 needed no anesthetic at all.
The results: Only two children experienced discomfort that required adjusting the fluence of the laser. This was the only side effect. No incidences of blistering, infection, dyspigmentaion or scarring occurred.
The authors concluded that “[w]hen administered appropriately, laser hair removal is safe and well tolerated in children aged < 16 years.”
Source: Rajpar SF, Hague JS, Abdullah A, Lanigan SW. Hair removal with the long-pulse alexandrite and long-pulse Nd:YAG lasers is safe and well tolerated in children. Clin Exp Dermatol. 2009. Jan 23. [Epub ahead of print]
In an article in the journal Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, British researchers describe their experience with laser hair removal in 24 children under the age of 16 years. Depending on their skin type, the children received a minimum of three treatments with a long-pulse alexandrite laser (with either continuous chilled-air cooling or cryogen cooling) or a long-pulse Nd:YAG laser (with either a chilled contact sapphire tip or cryogen cooling).
The mean age of the children was 12.3 years. They were diagnosed with constitutional hirsutism (14 patients), polycystic ovarian syndrome (5), congential melanocytic naevus (2), generalized hypertrichosis (2) and naevoid hypertrichosis (1). Before the treatment, 1 patient required a general anesthetic, 8 required a topical anesthetic, and 15 needed no anesthetic at all.
The results: Only two children experienced discomfort that required adjusting the fluence of the laser. This was the only side effect. No incidences of blistering, infection, dyspigmentaion or scarring occurred.
The authors concluded that “[w]hen administered appropriately, laser hair removal is safe and well tolerated in children aged < 16 years.”
Source: Rajpar SF, Hague JS, Abdullah A, Lanigan SW. Hair removal with the long-pulse alexandrite and long-pulse Nd:YAG lasers is safe and well tolerated in children. Clin Exp Dermatol. 2009. Jan 23. [Epub ahead of print]
posted by DrHr at 5:05 PM
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