Laser hair removal is a common cosmetic procedure in the U.S. Pigment in the hair follicles absorbs a highly-concentrated light to prevent re-growth.
Lasers are useful for removing unwanted hair from the face, leg, arm, underarm, bikini line, and other areas.
Benefits of laser hair removal include:
Precision. Lasers can selectively target dark, coarse hairs while leaving the surrounding skin undamaged.
Speed. Each pulse of the laser takes a fraction of a second and can treat many hairs at the same time. The laser can treat an area approximately the size of a quarter every second. Small areas such as the upper lip can be treated in less than a minute, and large areas, such as the back or legs, may take up to an hour.
Predictability. Ninety percent of patients have permanent hair loss after an average of three to five sessions.
See the full WebMD article here.