SAIMSARA Journal

Machine-Readable Science • ISSN 3054-3991

Laser Epilation and Laser Hair Removal from Cosmetic Use to Clinical Applications and Safety: Scoping Review with ☸️SAIMSARA.

Skin & Aesthetics

Skin & Aesthetics

Issue 8, Volume 1, 2026

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DOI: 10.62487/saimsara23277b65

Editorial note
• Last update: 2026-05-18 19:43:25
What is this paper about
Laser epilation is no longer just a cosmetic hair-removal procedure — this evidence map shows how it extends into pilonidal disease prevention, reconstructive surgery, trichiasis care, inflammatory follicular disorders, and phototype-adapted clinical practice. Built from **83 references and 113 original studies**, the full map helps readers see where laser hair removal is effective, where durability remains uncertain, and where safety risks such as ocular injury, burns, paradoxical hypertrichosis, pigmentary effects, and topical-anesthetic toxicity require protocol-driven care.
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Abstract: To synthesize the available original-study evidence on laser epilation, emphasizing clinical effectiveness, procedural applications, safety signals, implementation considerations, and research gaps across human, animal, and laboratory biological studies. The review uses 83 references and builds its evidence map from 113 original studies with 30097 total participants/sample observations (topic-deduplicated ΣN). Across the mapped literature, laser epilation emerges as a clinically useful intervention whose value extends well beyond cosmetic hair reduction, with the most consistent therapeutic signal seen when it is embedded into structured pilonidal disease care pathways, where adjunctive use was associated with a 23.2% absolute reduction in 1-year recurrence versus standard care alone. Supporting evidence indicates meaningful and durable hair reduction with alexandrite and Nd:YAG devices, including 80.6% mean reduction in a large cohort, while safety signals such as ocular injury during periocular treatment and rare paradoxical or inflammatory reactions highlight the need for protocol-driven delivery. The findings suggest that device selection, parameter optimization, and phototype-adapted protocols are central to outcomes, but heterogeneity prevents firm conclusions about long-term permanence. Future adequately powered comparative trials with standardized endpoints and prospective safety registries are needed to clarify durability, equity of access, and optimal pilonidal protocol design.

Keywords: Laser epilation; Laser hair removal; Pilonidal disease; Alexandrite laser; Nd:YAG laser; Diode laser; Hair follicles; Paradoxical hypertrichosis; Ocular complications; Selective photothermolysis

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