Fotona Avalanche Laser Hair Removal: Pain, Effectiveness, and Safety
Hello, I am Dr. Lee Jong-jin, head physician at Ceramique Clinic.
Many people's first questions before a procedure are:
"Can I see results without pain?" or "Are there absolutely no side effects?"
Especially when considering equipment that uses powerful energy like the Fotona Avalanche, it's natural to have high expectations for safety as well as effectiveness.
While I understand these expectations, as a professional, I can say definitively that no medical procedure is without risk.
Lasers induce artificial changes in skin tissue, and some unexpected reactions or recovery processes are inevitable, depending on individual differences.
The final decision should always be made carefully, based on your own judgment and responsibility, after sufficient consultation with an experienced medical professional.
Many people approach Fotona Avalanche treatment with the understanding that it is 'less painful than other procedures'.
This equipment offers the realistic advantage of lower pain while still providing effective hair removal.
Let's briefly discuss general laser hair removal.
Most general laser hair removal devices use short wavelengths with high melanin absorption rates.
Of course, this means that energy reacts immediately to thick, dark hair.
However, it's important to note the limitations. As hair becomes thinner, or if the patient's skin tone darkens even slightly, the risk of burns or post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation increases sharply.
This creates clear limitations, making the treatment conditions very demanding.
Moreover, because high energy is delivered instantaneously, the momentary pain can be intense.
However, the Fotona Avalanche works differently from typical laser hair removal.
The key is the characteristics of the Nd:YAG laser (1064nm) wavelength.
As you know, laser energy heats up when absorbed by pigment (melanin) on the skin's surface.
However, this wavelength is designed not to react strongly to surface melanin, allowing it to focus on safely delivering energy deep into the hair follicles.
Here's the most important difference:
Avalanche doesn't use a sudden burst of high energy.
Instead, it employs a unique strategy of 'accumulating' weak energy over multiple passes.
So, while a typical laser causes pain with a single, powerful impact, this procedure gradually accumulates heat, like a gentle avalanche, significantly reducing pain.
Patients often describe the sensation as warmth rather than a painful shock.
Reducing pain means that the technology for safe and effective energy delivery is highly refined.
I mentioned earlier that Fotona Avalanche allows deep energy delivery with low pain, but that doesn't mean it's completely free from side effects.
In particular, with procedures that 'accumulate' energy, unexpected side effects can occur if the practitioner doesn't accurately predict the device's speed and skin response, and excessively overlaps energy on the same area.
Even if the laser wavelength itself is less sensitive to skin color, accumulated heat can build up excessively in the epidermis, leading to redness, swelling, or even blisters and skin peeling.
Regarding the duration and frequency of treatment, laser hair removal is performed according to the hair growth cycle (anagen, catagen, telogen), so permanent results cannot be expected from a single session.
To maximize and maintain results, we generally recommend five or more repeated treatments at 4-6 week intervals.
This timing aims to precisely target the anagen phase, when hair is most responsive to the laser.
The post-treatment instructions we provide may seem a bit tedious since you hear them all the time.
I understand completely.
However, skin that has undergone laser treatment is very sensitive because it has absorbed heat energy.
Therefore, the most important things are sunscreen (minimum SPF 30) and adequate moisturizing.
Please focus on these two things for at least a month to protect your skin barrier.
Today, we discussed Fotona Avalanche treatment, especially for hair removal, in detail.
Ultimately, the most important thing, whether it's this treatment or another, is to determine 'who is suitable and who is not' based on evidence.
I hope you will make your choice based on the information in this article, considering your individual skin condition and expectations.
Source :https://blog.naver.com/best_sseul/224044367978
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