When you go for laser hair removal and you are pregnant, you may worry about the thought of a laser being shot at your belly and what the effects of that are going to be on your unborn child. This is a natural worry and it comes from the fact that there are many misconceptions about laser hair removal.
What you need to know!
First of all, many people think that laser hair removal involves a high-intensity laser like you would see from one of Hollywood action films, but the truth is that the laser is more or less just low-intensity concentrated light of a particular wavelength.
Is laser hair removal safe when you are pregnant?
That still may not calm your fears about laser hair removal when you are pregnant, so it is important to note that laser hair removal only targets hair follicles and the dark matter around the follicles.
The laser light, because of its intensity, can only travel into the skin for a few millimetres and no further. For this reason, the chances of it actually going deeper into the skin and actually causing damage to the fetus is incredibly low, almost nil.
Remember, the laser hair removal procedure is not like an x-ray, it does not go through the skin. It only targets the hair and any damage to the skin is done on the top of the skin, and no deeper. There is NO evidence to state that laser hair removal increases the odds of defects or miscarriage.
Hormonal changes
However, most laser hair removal clinics will not do procedures on pregnant women. The reason for this is because when women are pregnant, they are going through major hormonal changes and this can cause fluctuations in mood and irritability.
Laser hair removal can cause minor pain on the skin momentarily, but if someone is in the wrong mood that minor pain can become a major headache. Since the clinic won’t use the numbing cream on a pregnant woman, laser hair removal can be more of an unpleasant experience than it usually is.
Generally speaking, you do not have to worry about any danger from the laser hair removal when you are pregnant, but to make things easier on yourself you should not have the procedures done if you are pregnant, or if you are planning to be pregnant.
Remember, laser hair removal takes about six months to a year to complete, so if you are not pregnant when you start, you may have already had a baby by the end. This is something to consider. It is safe, but it can be more irritating if you are pregnant, so just wait until you are through your pregnancy.