Question: Have there been any clinical studies on the effects of laser hair removal on the skin’s ability to produce vitamin D? Laser hair removal affecting skin cells and their dynamics is a sure bet! But the skin cells in focus while you are getting a hair removal laser treatment are only the cells that make up hair follicle.
Let’s begin with a few boring facts about lasers in general and laser hair removal in particular. They are needed to answer your question in a way that covers all the possibilities.
1) If you are aware of lasers then you might know that they are used medically for a myriad of purposes. Therapies that use lasers include but are not limited to eye surgery, abdominal surgery, skin rejuvenation, plastic surgeries, arthritis and so on.
These varied applications of laser are made possible by different types of lasers used and by altering the laser parameters (wavelength, pulse duration, fluence, spot size etc…) by which the pulsed beams are delivered.
2) The most amazing and paradoxical fact for you to know perhaps is that while lasers are used for hair removal at the same time (and on the contrary) they are also used for hair growth in case of hair loss! The same paradox continues all through the wide range of medical applications of lasers…
3) Another fact I guess which is relevant to our discussion is that lasers are simply LIGHT! But a highly focused light which does not get dispersed and reaches precisely to the intended target i.e. tissue or cell. This is the reason they are used to manipulate HUMAN tissues.
4) Human body synthesizes Vitamin D, via biochemical (enzymatic) reactions when exposed to sunlight. I guess you and many visitors reading this know that… that’s why you have posted D question!
No worries… please be patient, we are getting close to discover the Vitamins we get from lasers. 😉
Now if lasers offer such precision then it is unlikely (if not impossible) to produce results they are not aiming for! However being light it is likely that lasers affect the skin synthesis of VITAMIN D. ;-0
But it mandates the precision needed for such a ‘bonus phenomenon’ to occur which perhaps is not offered in case of laser hair removal. Laser beams may simply say, ‘Come on we are here to remove hair and not to cook VITAMIN D.’
Regarding clinical studies or research over this topic, you bet there are a lot of ‘health and fitness savvy’ scientists who are working over it!
But as far as my knowledge is concerned, I did not hear or read about published results of any such research. (Except on mushrooms… now perhaps, I am not one!)
No, I am not kidding, researchers did find increased vitamin D levels in mushrooms exposed to pulsed ultraviolet light.
Summary:
It is a possibility that lasers; if not laser hair removal may influence vitamin D synthesis positively. But there is no published result of any such clinical study, at least in my knowledge. So, for a while let’s keep lasers for hair removal, go to beach, get some natural sunlight and in turn get loads of FREE and natural vitamin.
Hope this helps!
