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.