Laser hair removal devices made in the 1960s sent a wavelength which has caused damage to tissues surrounding skin. In the late 1960s, Dr. Leon Goldman was the first to begin testing a ruby laser for hair removal. It was also in this time that the Q switch was developed in countries for use with a laser. With the development of the Q switch it was possible to control the energy of the laser beam to be sent to the controlled pulse. The Q switch worked the same way as a camera shutter.
The first devices for laser hair removal proved ineffective. To eliminate the hair follicle, there was severe damage to the surrounding skin area. Ruby laser and the argon laser, are used for laser hair removal.
Throughout the next decades, researchers and physicians have continued to experiment and successfully tested for laser hair removal. It was not until the 1980s that the first laser was introduced as a safe and effective method of hair removal. This discovery really happened by accident, noted that when scientists birth treated with certain types of lasers caused the hair in this area to disappear and not repel.
The FDA cleared the first laser for hair removal in 1995. This laser, called the Soft Light, was a neodymium yttrium aluminum garnet laser was manufactured by Thermolaise. This laser was used with a chromophore of lotion based on carbon. After the skin wax lotion based on carbon would be rubbed on the skin and enter the hair follicle. The beam of light produced by the laser to heat the carbon quickly and destroy the hair follicle. However, this type of laser treatment can easily damage the skin cells nearby. Finally, this type of laser hair removal to be less effective than targeting the natural pigments that existed in the skin.
In 1997, several types of laser hair removal devices have been cleared by the F DA. One was the ruby laser, which uses a short wavelength. However, clinical research ultimately shows that the laser does not produce enough damage in the hair shaft leading to the loss of hair. The researchers also found that if at the ruby laser was used on people with dark skin or tan there was a high risk of hyperpigmentation. Other types of alexandrite laser hair removal devices include today, diode, and yttrium aluminum garnet doped with neodymium lasers.
Research and development in the field of laser hair removal are still at an early stage. However, further research, testing and development in this area continues to produce safer and more efficient equipment.