Laser vs Electrolysis Treatment – Which Method is for You?

Of the large choice of hair reduction therapies that are available to consumers these days, it is electrolysis removal and laser hair removal treatment that have become the most popular. In this editorial we will look in detail at these two therapies and show you a thorough comparison of electrolysis vs laser treatment.

Procedure
Electrolysis is an invasive procedure involving the insertion of a needle right into each hair root cell. The needle is then used to apply an electric current to the root cell. This involves pain and the danger of uncomfortable electric stimulus. Laser hair removal, in contrast, is a harmless and non-invasive procedure incorporating the use of laser beams. As such, there is no physical harm done to the skin at all. The lasers harmlessly pass through the skin and target the hair root cells to deactivate them.

Cost Effectiveness
The pricing structure offered by laser or electrolysis clinics is a multi-factored characteristic of both therapies depending upon:

-Session duration
-Area to be treated
-Number of sessions
-Pricing of each session

The cost of each session can be somewhat less for Laser Hair Removal Versus electrolysis hair removal but electrolysis treatment is a relatively long process requiring longer session durations and a greater number of sessions. This adds to the overall cost of the area under treatment and therefore ends up costing you much more compared to laser hair removal treatment. Long term,,Overall the Laser Hair Reduction is the less expensive option in the terms of cost effectiveness having lower overall costs and often a more pliant cost structure.

Are the Procedures Painful?
As laser hair removal treatment is a non-invasive procedure, there is no directly invasive stimulus. Electrolysis being a skin penetrating procedure initiates a painful stimulus with each hair that is treated thanks to the presence of nerves in the skin. Laser hair removal can be sore either if you have very sensitive skin or if you are unlucky enough to get a poorly trained laser clinician. On the plus side, any slight pain can be safely controlled with laser hair removal treatment pain relief. With electrolysis treatment in contrast, pain is an unavoidable feature of the procedure.

Treatment Period
The time needed to finish the process of hair reduction in electrolysis is much greater, in order to get satisfactory end results, as we’ve already seen. The main problem is in fact the large number of sessions needed to have full treatment. As an electrologist says “Electrolysis requires a series of treatments over a duration of time. It’s not just a few sessions that are needed for complete treatment.” Laser hair removal needs approximately 3 to 4 treatments for the full treatment. So electrolysis treatment is a relatively lengthy and tedious process.

How Effective is it?
One major area of contrast is the question of efficacy. Electrolysis being an established procedure has had a lot of time to prove itself in terms of efficacy. Electrolysis, in spite of 120 years of history, cannot guarantee permanent hair reduction. Laser hair removal in contrast has been seen to produce at least 30-40% permanent hair reduction of hairs after completion of treatment. Another strong point of laser hair removal treatment is that it can be used efficiently for the treatment of large areas such as the legs, chest and back.

Is it Safe?
After undergoing electrolysis one has to take care of the skin in a certain way. Research has shown that extensive skin damage can be the result if specific preventative treatment is not given to the skin. The other issue of being an invasive procedure is the skin infections. There is a low incidence of %keyword5% side effects, and hardly any after treatment care is needed. Darkening of skin, redness or scarring are short-lived effects which soon disappear.

Conclusion
In this article, the the available data gives an idea of electrolysis vs laser treatment but more intensive study and research is needed to confirm the efficacy of one procedure over the other. As we have seen, there are many factors that should be taken into consideration to confirm the superiority of one procedure over the other.

Ingrid Preube
laser hair removal

This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 9:57 am and is filed under Health and Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.