Is Laser Hair Removal Harmless By means of Pregnancy?







Photo of the Remarkables mountain range in Queenstown, New Zealand.

A lot of people turn to laser hair removal to reduce hair and its growth. It’s used for areas on the face, legs, underarms, and bikini zone.

The American Academy for Aesthetic stella nonna
Surgery says over a million people had the procedure done in 2016. But should pregnant women have laser hair removal? The short answer, according to many doctors, is no.

Here’s why it’s less likely to work while you’re pregnant and when investing the time and money for the treatment can work.


How laser hair removal works


A doctor or laser technician aims a beam of light at the region you want to treat. The laser targets the dark pigment in each hair, sending heat down the hair shaft and into the follicle.

If the heat completely destroys the follicle, it won’t produce hair again. If the follicle is just damaged, then the hair may grow back, but it will probably be finer and lighter than before.

Pregnancy and all the hair


When you’re pregnant, your body is awash with hormones. Higher levels of estrogen and androgen can cause hair to grow in places where it never appeared before, especially in the third trimester.

You could suddenly notice hair on your belly, face, neck, breasts, and arms. The good news is that this hair growth is quite common, and it generally goes away on its own after the baby arrives.

Pregnancy hormones not only affect where hair suddenly sprouts and how much of it you have to deal with, they also change the growth cycle of your hair.

The hairs on your head and your body all have an active growth phase called anagen. When the hair is fully grown, it enters a resting state called telogen, after which it falls out.

Pregnancy hormones delay the “falling out” phase, which might be why you notice thicker, fuller hair. Your body simply isn’t letting go of the usual amount of hair.

About three to six months after the baby arrives and your hormones normalize, the extra hair will fall out. This sudden loss of hair is called telogen effluvium.

The estrogen-induced hair growth, combined with the increasing difficulty of reaching some parts of your body as your belly grows, may have you wondering whether you should schedule an appointment for laser hair removal as an alternative to shaving, waxing, or using depilatory creams.

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The main reason to wait: No safety studies


The International Journal of Women’s DermatologyTrusted Source published a review in 2017 on the safety of cosmetic procedures for pregnant women.

The reviewers said that while lasers have been safely used to treat medical conditions like kidney stones and genital warts in pregnant women, there’s no safety data available to support using lasers for cosmetic procedures like laser hair removal.

The lack of research on this subject probably won’t change soon, because scientists don’t want to risk harming mothers and babies by intentionally exposing them to potentially harmful products and procedures.

Although laser hair removal is generally considered a safe procedure, doctors and dermatologists usually advise women to avoid the procedure because no studies have been done to prove that it’s safe for mothers and babies. In the absence of research, doctors err on the side of caution.

Dr. Kelly Jago, an OB-GYN in St. Augustine, Florida, advises patients to take a cautious approach.

“My best advice would be that if one could hold off on this elective procedure until after the pregnancy, I would recommend doing so,” she says.

Other reasons to wait until you’re postpartum
One of the more common changes that can happen during pregnancy is darkening of your skin — a condition called hyperpigmentation.

According to doctors at Mayo Clinic, laser hair removal is most effective when there’s a contrast between the color of your skin and the color of your hair. If hyperpigmentation has made the skin on your target zone closer to the color of your hair, treatment might be less effective.

In addition, pregnancy disrupts your normal hair growth cycle. For laser hair removal to be effective, you could need as many as six treatments. Ideally, these treatments would take place during the active growth phase of the cycle. But because pregnancy hormones can change the duration of some phases, you could end up having the procedure done in the wrong phase.

Then there’s the question of skin sensitivity. Pregnancy increases the blood supply throughout your body. It also stretches out the skin on your abdomen and breasts. Having laser hair removal treatments while your skin is in this tender state may be uncomfortable.

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