Will Laser Resurfacing Also Remove Facial Hair?

You have asked a very good question and one that many of my patients have asked in the past. The term "laser" surgery may mean one thing to the patient, but to the surgeon, this can mean many different things.
Laser skin resurfacing generally uses CO2 or Erbium-Yag wavelengths in order to accomplish the goal of skin rejuvenation. Hair removal is dependent upon lasers that use completely different wavelengths in order to go deep into the skin and target hair follicles.
These wavelengths generally spare the skin but, burns can occur if the hair removal machine heats the skin too much. This does not accomplish the goal of skin rejuvenation, but the damage is only temporary.

Resurfacing the envelope of the skin does not permanently remove hair from the face. Ablative lasers do temporarily remove this hair, but it regrows. Non-invasive lasers do not remove the hair at all.

Laser resurfacing with lasers to improve skin texture and wrinkles are called ablative lasers. These include C02 and YAG lasers. They are also the lasers used in fractionated resurfacing as well. These will not affect facial hair in the long run. Photofacials are another story. These lasers have little to no downtime, but aren't as effective as ablative lasers for wrinkles. However, the laser light in the Photofacial, IPL lasers will affect facial hair growth.

Laser resurfacing would singe or burn the hairs on the surface of the skin if the laser beam touches the hair but does not affect the root of the hair.  So the hair loss is temporary and will grow back.

Laser resurfacing is usually done with an erbium or CO2 laser. While they will help improve the texture, fine lines and wrinkles of the skin, it will not help with hair reduction. A different laser will help with that.

Good Luck.

Laser Resurfacing of facial skin is best performed with a CO2 laser although other lasers have been employed for resurfacing. These lasers usually remove the hair that is present on the surface of the skin at the time of the procedure.
However, these lasers, when employed correctly, will not remove the hair follicle shafts. Accordingly, facial hair will regenerate. This hair regeneration is usually desirable in a man but undesirable in a woman. It is necessary to employ other modalities to remove facial hair on a longer term basis.

Laser resurfacing (LR) does not permanently remove facial hair. Temporarily LR will singe / remove the external part of the hairs, but they will grow back.
A simple way to look at the science is that LR lasers (CO2, Erbium, Yttrium) target H2O in the skin, not the pigment in the hair root that the hair removal lasers target. Additionally, most LR lasers do not penetrate deep enough to effect the hair root.

LAser resurfacing really should not have any long term impact on facial hari growth. The ablative lasers usually do not penetrate as deep as the hair follicles to destroy them. That usually requires either other lasers or light systems(IPL)

Laser resurfacing of the face is not intended to be a permanent hair removal solution but at least temporarily, there will be a complete removal of facial hair.  It will grow back later.