Can lasers like Picosure/Qswitch meant for treating melasma be used on areas with hair?

Doctor's Answer

Hi,

Generally, melasma occurs on the cheeks, temples and forehead, all of which have minimal hair.

In areas with hairs, the hairs tend to cover the underlying blemished skin and acts as a form of camouflage, hence there is less reason to treat especially for conditions such as melasma as recurrences are common after stopping laser treatment.

However, treatment in areas of hairs is still possible if requested for. However, some modification in technique is useful. As the hair gets in the way of treatment, this has to “removed” prior to or during treatment. This is done by either shaving the treatment area before treatment or parting the hair using a Q-tip stick during treatment so that the laser is able to target the affected underlying blemished skin and not the overlying hair.

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