26, male, caucasian, can laser or IPL hair removal treatment eliminate skin pigment forever?

No — laser and IPL hair-removal devices cannot permanently remove your skin pigment or eliminate your skin color. These treatments target melanin inside the hair follicle, not the melanin in your overall skin tone.

Hi Yood, thanks for your thoughtful question—it's a good one, and I’d like to clarify it clearly from a medical and dermatological perspective.

Short Answer:
No, there is no permanent hair removal method (including IPL or laser) that can intentionally and safely eliminate skin color or hue by removing melanocytes. These devices target hair follicles, not the overall skin tone, and while changes in pigmentation can occur, they are usually unwanted side effects, not intended outcomes.

Laser hair removal targets the melanin in hair follicles to prevent hair regrowth. This is not the ideal treatment to remove skin pigmentation concerns. In our practice we use Intense Pulse Light (IPL) for reduction of melanocytes. Light is selectively absorbed by the pigmented spots and red areas on the skin. Over the course of the next 1 to 3 weeks, darkened spots will fade and flake off. It is important to minimize sun exposure and wear sunscreen to prevent hyperpigmentation as these spots can reappear.

Both IPL and LASER treatments are effective for reducing unwanted pigmented lesions and reduce air follicles. LASER reduces follicular volume in targeted areas and can be used to address photo damage. Similarly, IPL is commonly used for treating redness and pigmented / vascular lesions. Since environmental factors like sun exposure continuously impact our skin throughout life, new photo damage—such as pigmented and vascular lesions—can form over time. These lesions can be treated as needed, and using high-quality SPF products can help minimize future exposure.

Hello Yood! Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treatments can significantly reduce skin pigmentation, but whether they can permanently eliminate it depends on several factors, including the type and depth of the pigmentation, skin type, and your adherence to post-treatment care. There are two main types of pigmentation: epidermal and dermal. Epidermal is superficial pigmentation, such as sun spots and age spots. It responds well to IPL and can be significantly reduced. Dermal pigmentation is deeper pigmentation, such as some forms of melasma, and may be more challenging to treat and might require multiple sessions or combination treatments for better results. For some types of pigmentation, IPL can offer permanent results, especially if you avoid triggers such as sun exposure. You are also likely to have more permanent results due to your light skin tone.

There is no treatment, especially at 26, that will eliminate pigment forever. Lasers target specific chromophores at specific wavelengths to destroy pigments, however this will not prevent melanocytes from proliferating again. The best defense against this is sunscreen use every day and routine sun protection garments.

there is no laser that permanently removal all hairs. Depend on the color of the hair and the location you may need multiple treatment and we can reduce the hair in the area. If you are not too blond and have dark color hair, I recommend gentlemax Candela laser. that does not remove any discoloration that should be done later after the hair removal.

Our office has many different treatments for scars depending on the depth of atrophy or hypertrophy. Scars require a combination approach using our HI DEF protocol which uses a combination of lasers, topical scar modulation, and RF treatments to pixelate scars, improve contour, reduce hyperpigmentation, and improve the visibility of the scars so that they are no longer visible in ambient light. Everyone has a unique pattern of scarring and we employ our HIDEF technique to improve texture, color, contour, and topography. We often use a combination of treatments that begin with a careful examination to examine the micro texturing of the acne scars. Atrophic scars and indented scars can benefit from injectable fillers such as Radiesse, Sculptra, and Restylane with or without subcision to remove tethered scars and atrophic depression. Hyper-redness in scars can be improved with V beam laser, Excel V, BBL, IPL, and Venus RF to improve the redness and reduce the visibility of deep scars. Fractional Thulium laser and clear & brilliant can also reduce the inflammation and redness of the scar when combined with topical therapy. Fractional lasers such as Fraxel, erbium, and CO2 laser can be combined with radio frequency and also fractional RF to improve textual issues and microtopography. Subcision and TCA cross are also used for deep ice pick scars and narrow valley scars in order to improve the micro texture. Above all, our combination approach with our clinical nurses and board-certified plastic surgeons can improve the quality of your skin by using at home Melarase creams combined with PRP treatments in our office to improve your skin quality and tone. I recommend getting a formal evaluation with an experienced team of experts in order to reduce your scarring.

Finally, hyperpigmentation of scars can be improved with at-home Melarase AM, Melarase PM, and Melapads to help reduce active PIH and melanin deposition.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian

In eliminating the hair/hair follicle the area treated with laser hair removal will appear lighter. During laser hair removal beauty marks/moles can unintentionally be removed often times not returning. If you wish to further treat discoloration for example a brown spot or red spot consider any IPL or Pico laser. Hope this is helpful.

Hi Yood,
Hair removal unfortunately is never permanent you’d expect a 80% reduction and require regular top up’s as hormones encourage the hair growth, so it’s always a fighting battle.
A darker skin hue is common to the under arm and pubic areas, this can be from post inflammatory hyperpigmentation, Acanthosis nigricans, diabetes, autoimmune conditions ect.
Firstly see your gp for a check up, once all clear you could consider a prescription lightening cream and/or the pico laser.
Thank you.