Laser hair removal is a medical procedure that uses a laser, an intense, pulsating beam of light, to remove unwanted hair. During laser hair removal treatment, a laser beam passes through the skin to an individual hair follicle. The intense heat of the laser kills the hair follicle, which inhibits future hair growth.

Lasers can selectively target dark, coarse hairs while leaving the surrounding skin undamaged.

Most patients see results after an average of three to seven sessions of laser hair removal treatments.

Each pulse of the laser takes a fraction of a second and can treat many hair follicles at the same time. Small areas such as the upper lip can be treated in less than a minute while large areas, such as the back or legs, may take up to an hour.