Andrea James

In 1998, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began allowing some manufacturers of hair removal lasers to use the term “permanent hair reduction.” [1] FDA points out this is different than permanent hair removal: Several manufacturers received FDA permission to claim, ‘permanent reduction,’ NOT ‘permanent removal’ for their lasers [2]. Richard Felten, the FDA regulator responsible for lasers and light-based devices used for epilation, has supplied me with FDA’s definition: Permanent hair reduction is defined as the long-term, stable reduction in the number of hairs regrowing after a treatment regime. The number of hairs regrowing must be stable over a time greater than the duration of the complete growth cycle of hair follicles, which varies from 4-12 months according to body location. Permanent hair …