An Electro-Optic (EO) Q-switched Nd:YAG laser is an effective option for removing unwanted fine caliber hair, a new study reports. Furthermore, when used in the double-pulse mode, the laser creates significantly less discomfort for the patient.
For this study, which was conducted at Northwestern University in Chicago, researchers treated 11 patients with the EO Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. The treatments were given once a month for four months. One side of each patient’s treatment area received a standard single-pulse option, while the other side received the double-pulse option.
At 6 and 24 months, investigators counted the patients hairs in the treated areas. They found a 50 percent reduction in hair counts with the double-pulse option and a 46 percent reduction with the single-pulse option.
Although outcomes may have been similar for both modes, patient discomfort was not. Some 90 percent of the patients reported none or mild discomfort when the double-pulse option was used. That number dropped to 50 percent when the treatment was received in the single-pulse options.
“The EO Q-switched Nd:YAG laser is an effective option for the permanent treatment of unwanted fine hair and has a high-patient satisfaction rate,” the authors concluded. “There is less therapeutic discomfort in the [double-pulse] mode.”
Source: Bakus AD, Garden JM, Yaghmai D, Massa MC. Long-term fine caliber hair removal with an electro-optic Q-switched Nd:YAG Laser. Lasers Surg Med. 2010:42(8):706-711.