Complications of nonphysician-supervised laser hair removal: case report and literature review.

The presence of unwanted hair continues to plague many individuals for whom traditional methods of hair removal remain unsatisfactory. Old methods of removing unwanted hair include shaving, waxing, chemical depilation, and electrolysis, all of which have temporary results. The invention of photothermolysis and the development of various laser systems with many ranges of wavelengths have made effective hair removal possible. There has been an explosive increase in the use of lasers for hair removal since the first lasers were approved in 1996. Since then, numerous advances in laser hair removal, which use melanin as a chromophore, have been made. Laser hair removal is accomplished through follicular unit destruction. The ability to remove hair without damaging the surrounding skin is based on selective photothermolysis—the theory that at a particular wavelength, pulse duration, and fluence, thermal injury is confined to a target that contains a light-absorbing molecule called a chromophore.1 Laser-assisted hair removal is the most efficient method of long-term hair removal currently available. Several hair removal systems have been shown to be effective in this setting: the ruby laser (694 nm), the alexandrite laser (755 nm), the diode laser (800 nm), an intense pulsed light source (590 to 1200 nm), and the neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd:YAG) laser (1064 nm), with or without the application of carbon suspension. Both the long-pulsed alexandrite and the long-pulsed diode laser systems are effective in the treatment of unwanted hair, and they are more effective than the Nd:YAG laser.2 The parameters used with each laser system vary considerably.2 The young female population often asks for laser procedures for hair removal. Family physicians should know the skin-related side effects of these procedures in order to correctly diagnose and treat them. Here we report a case in which the characteristic lesions of hair removal appear on the neck, a typical site, especially in those women with hirsutism associated with polycystic ovary syndrome. Similar lesions can be seen more frequently in other hair removal areas, such as on the forearms or the groin.