While pregnant, your body goes through a whole host of unwanted changes. These changes happen due to the fluctuating levels of various hormones. One such change is the growth of hair on the face, breasts, legs, etc. As laser treatment is one of the most efficient and safest ways to remove unwanted hair, you might lean towards getting laser hair removal during pregnancy. But should you do it?
Although laser hair removal is quite safe, we would suggest you do not undergo the procedure while you are pregnant. The reason behind this is the lack of data regarding the treatment’s effect on pregnant women as well as the baby in their womb. Since there is no data to support or reject the procedure, you should refrain from going through with it.
Let’s take a deeper look at why you shouldn’t get laser hair treatment while pregnant.
Should you get laser hair removal while pregnant?
During pregnancy, the body of the mother goes through a lot of changes. While most of the changes can be seen from the outside, some changes are more subtle. One such subtle change is the change in their hormone levels. A lot of changes occur due to this fluctuation, and growing hair in unnatural places is one of them.
To understand why the growth of hair during pregnancy is a problem, you first have to understand the process of hair growth. Hair grows in three stages. They are:
- Growth: In this stage, the hair follicles are created and they start to produce hair.
- Intermediate: During this stage, the hair produced in the previous stage keeps growing.
- Resting: The hair that was produced and growing during the previous couple of stages starts falling.
Now, as the hormones change during pregnancy, the resting stage is delayed, so the hair keeps growing and growing until it gets irritably visible. This is when pregnant women want to get rid of these. But as the pregnancy progresses, doing even the lightest of tasks become quite difficult due to the baby bump, and so does shaving the hair, especially of the ones at the lower half of the body.
This is one of the times when pregnant ladies wonder, “Can I get laser hair removal while pregnant?” The problem is, there are no significant studies that can answer this question. No, let me rephrase that, there are absolutely zero studies on this subject that can answer this question.
Although laser hair removal is safe for the most part, since pregnancy is a delicate situation, you should be as careful as possible while getting it. Yes, there are no studies that reject the notion of getting laser hair removal during pregnancy, but there aren’t any that support it either. Since the procedure might or might not affect your baby as well, it’s better to refrain from getting your unwanted hair removed via laser treatment.
What are the risks of getting laser hair removal while pregnant?
If you are asking yourself, “Is it safe to do laser hair treatment while pregnant?”, know this, despite there being no studies on the effect of laser hair removal on pregnant women, there are some well-known side effects of this procedure. These side effects can be accentuated during pregnancy due to the body’s change during this time.
The effects of laser hair removal during pregnancy include skin burns, which themselves are quite problematic. These burns go away within a very short time for a regular person. But since pregnant women have a slower recovery rate, these burns take a lot of time to completely go away, causing the mother some discomfort.
Another issue these burns can cause other than pain and discomfort is hyper-pigmentation. As the skin takes more time to heal itself, it leaves a pigmented mark on your skin that is even worse to look at than the hair you are trying to remove. So, for your sake and the sake of your unborn baby, wait until you’ve given birth to get laser hair treatment.
How can you remove hair during pregnancy?
Just because you can’t go through laser hair removal doesn’t mean you can’t remove your unwanted hair throughout the 9 months. The best way to remove unwanted hair from your body is the more traditional methods of shaving and plucking. If you can’t shave the hair on your legs due to the baby bump, tell you’re significant other to do it for you.
Don’t wax or use hair removal creams to remove hair while pregnant. Waxing causes similar effects on your skin as laser treatment, and hair removal creams have barium sulfide and calcium thioglycolate that can potentially cause discomfort to the pregnant mom.
When can you resume laser hair removal after pregnancy from?
The main issue with laser treatment during pregnancy is that the hormonal imbalance can create a lot of issues for the would-be mother. Once you give birth and the hormone levels are back to normal, you shouldn’t have any issues resuming laser hair removal. It’s best to wait until three months after you’ve given birth to continue getting laser hair removal. Because once you have given birth, it takes your hormones quite some time to be balanced again.
Final Words
Getting laser hair removal during pregnancy has been quite a debated subject over the years because of a lack of data. But when the uncertainties, complications, and safety of the mother and the baby are taken into account, it doesn’t hurt to wait a few months after you’ve given birth to start taking this treatment again.
FAQs
1. Can laser cause birth defects?
Doctors forbid getting laser treatment during pregnancy because of the extreme lack of data regarding this issue. But there hasn’t been any proof of laser causing birth defects. So, you shouldn’t be worried about laser causing your fetus any harm.
2. Can laser hair removal affect fertility
Due to physicians not suggesting laser treatment during pregnancy, some think that it has something to do with fertility. But in reality, there is no chance of laser affecting your fertility as the only organ affected by laser hair removal is the skin.
3. Can I have laser hair removal before I knew I was pregnant?
It is not recommended to get laser hair removal when pregnant. But if you had laser hair removal while you were pregnant, but you didn’t know that you were with a child, you shouldn’t bother it that. Just make sure you don’t get the treatment anymore, at least until after your hormone levels are back to normal.
