During your first appointment/consultation, there will be several actions we will need to take with you which are outlined below:

1. We will request your permission to photograph the chosen area of treatment. We can then monitor the progress of the treatments as we move through each stage.
2. A consent form will be provided for you to sign, and any questions will be answered in your first appointment. Any signs of scarring or underlying skin disorders such as eczema are identified. If there are any broken areas or pustules, the laser hair removal treatment will be delayed until the area is completely healed.
3. A patch test will be carried out in the first consultation and treatment may proceed the next week if there is no adverse reaction (we take your safety extremely seriously, so this is an important requirement to see if there are any unknown issues)
4. A course of treatments is always necessary due to the nature of skin due to its protective role.

This can vary per person and depending on the amount and thickness of hair that needs to be removed, Individual follicles also cycle between two states over an approximate four-to-six-week period referred to as active and dormant.

Within any given area of the body, individual hair follicles will all be at different stages of this individual hair cycle. Laser hair removal is only effective against hair follicles that are in their active growth phase, and so to achieve permanent (or long-term) hair removal in a particular area, the procedure needs to be repeated several times (ensuring that each hair follicle is treated).

In general, total coverage can be reached after around eight sessions, spaced four to six weeks apart. However, this is not always the case and a few sessions more or a few sessions less may be required depending on the individual. Here at Virtue Skin Clinic, we ensure we monitor patients closely until we can see the hair follicles been removed correctly and safely.

It is not uncommon for patients to need one to two maintenance sessions per year after their initial treatment. At Virtue Skin Clinic, our specialists will be happy to advise you of the next steps required.

The pain people experience during sessions tend to vary due to personal tolerance. However, it is an unobtrusive experience and should not be too uncomfortable. Many people have described the feeling as having many small pinches on the skin and have labelled it as only “mildly irritating”.

As the hair removal sessions go on and the hair becomes weaker and weaker any pain experienced should lessen.

After the treatment, there may well be a degree of discomfort and redness on the skin, but this should last for more than a few hours. Our patients should easily be able to go about their everyday lives by following a few simple skincare rules that will be passed on by our knowledgeable staff

A soothing after treatment balm is applied to the treated area to help protect the skin following treatment. A high SPF sun factor is vital to protect the treated area from sun exposure and must be continued for one month post-treatment. Tanning after treatment sessions may enhance melanin regeneration, which may result in hyper-pigmentation.

Whatever our race or skin type the truth is that the modern person could all do with a little less hair on their bodies. We are all prone to unwanted hair and nowadays, effective treatments are available for every skin tone.

When laser hair removal was in its infancy it was much harder to see results in darker skin types, however great strides have been made and it is now much safer for more highly melanated skin colours to see fabulous and long-lasting results.

Darker skin tones may well need a few more sessions booked to see the same results as fairer skin tones, but this will all depend on the individual patient and varies per person.

If the hair follicle is eventually fully destroyed by laser treatment, then the hair will not be able to grow back, if the treatment is not totally completed and the follicle only damaged then the hair will over time recuperate and eventually grow back. The amount of time that the hair will grow back in is dependent on the damage done to the initial hair, but also will be dependent on the personal hair growth cycle of the individual.