York Vein & Laser Clinic - Laser Hair Removal

York Vein & Laser Clinic
647 Davis Drive
Newmarket,Ontario L3Y 2R2
Phone: (905) 853-3200

One of Ontario's leading non-surgical vein clinics and one of the most comprehensive medical cosmetic clinics in York Region and the GTA. Serving Newmarket, Aurora, and surrounding area. The clinic is operated by Dr. Philip Kritzinger MD, a vein specialist certified by the American Board of Phlebology

Laser hair removal involves the application of powerful light, delivered by laser or IPL (intense pulsed light), to eliminate unwanted hair from any part of the body. The light penetrates the skin and is absorbed by dark pigment (melanin) in the root of the hair. The temperature of the hair rises, and the hair burns. This burning hair injures the hair follicle, damaging the cells that produce the hair.
Because the skin is light in colour, most of the light energy is reflected, and the skin is undamaged. If sufficient damage has been done to the hair follicle, it dies and will not regenerate. Any remaining hair in the follicle will shed over the next week or two and will never return.

At the York Vein and Laser Clinic we use three machines for hair removal: the Soprano laser, the CoolGlide Excel laser and the Harmony IPL. We chose the Soprano, because it offers painless hair removal.

The CoolGlide was chosen for its unequalled safety profile as explained here.

The target for laser light energy is the pigment called melanin. This pigment is found in hair and throughout the skin. The darker your skin, the more melanin it contains. The object of laser hair removal is to have more absorption of laser light energy by the melanin in the hair root than by melanin in the skin, thereby destroying the hair follicle but preserving the skin.

The CoolGlide laser has the longest wavelength available for hair removal. The longer wavelength of the CoolGlide laser results in deeper penetration of light into the skin where the hair root resides. Less light energy is absorbed at the surface of the skin. The result is hair root damage without skin damage. It is the safest laser available for hair removal.

All other lasers use wavelengths of light that are scattered and absorbed in the very superficial layers of the skin where they may cause undesirable skin side effects such as burning and pigment changes. These shorter wavelengths are unsuitable for treating dark skin.

The longer wavelength of the CoolGlide Excel is safe for use on all skin colors, including tanned skin.

However, the CoolGlide does not work well for treating lighter colored hair. For this reason, we also use the Harmony IPL machine. IPL (intense pulsed light) delivers light energy of multiple wavelengths. These other wavelengths are better absorbed by lighter colored hair than the wavelength of the CoolGlide. The tradeoffs are that IPL is a weaker device than a laser so more sessions are required, and IPL can only be used to treat fair skinned people. Fortunately, these are also commonly the people who want to eliminate lighter colored hair.

To summarize, the Soprano is used for people with fair skin. The CoolGlide is used for dark skin (e.g. East Indian). The Harmony IPL is used in fair skinned peole with light-coloured or fine hair. Between the three different technologies, there is almost no one we cannot help regarding hair removal.

The darker the hair color the better. Dark hair absorbs more light, which makes more heat to damage the folllicle. The coarser the hair the better. When coarse hair is treated it generates a lot of heat, and this is more likely to injure the cells of the follicle that make the hair.

Peach fuzz does not respond to laser treatment (not enough color, too fine). For permanent results, vellus hair is best treated by electrolysis. Laser treatment is ineffective on blonde and white hair, because it contains little or no melanin. Red hair is difficult to treat because all hair removal lasers shoot red light which bounces off red hair and fails to heat up the hair.