Efficacy of lasers and light sources in long-term hair reduction: a systematic review

Figures & data

Table 1 Data extraction form.

Author, Year	Laser Types	% Mean Reduction in Hair Count from baseline at LAST follow-up ± SD		% Mean Reduction in Hair Count from baseline at FIRST follow-up ± SD		Average Patient Satisfaction Scores
Adverse Effects (%)		Mean Pain Score ± SD (scale)
Immediate Erythema (%)	Hypopigmentation (%)	Hyperpigmentation (%)		Blistering (%)	Superficial Burn (%)	Burning Sensation (%)	Scarring (%)
Davoudi, 2008	Nd:YAG 12mm Alexandrite 18mm Alexandrite Alexandrite + Nd:YAG	73.61% ± 11.4 75.89% ± 19.0 84.25% ± 12.4 77.81% ± 15.9	Digital camera p = 0.25 Visomed AG device p = 0.65	73.60% ± 16.6 79.6% ± 19.59 85.99% ± 11.62 79.61% ± 18.1	p = 0.26	NS	NS
Galadari, 2003	Nd:YAG Alexandrite Diode	3 sessions 6 sessions Average 25% 35% 30% 30% 40% 35% 25% 40% 32.5%	NS	3 sessions 6 sessions Average 50% 70% 60% 50% 80% 65% 60% 80% 70%	NS	NS	NS
Haak, 2010	Diode IPL	34% 40%	p = 0.427	68% 77%	p = 0.277	50% 60%	p = 0.125
Klein, 2013	Diode IPL	69.2% 52.7%	p ≤ 0.01*	59.7% 42.4%	p ≤ 0.01*	NS	NS
McGill, 2007	Alexandrite IPL	46% 27%	p< 0.001*	52% 21%	p < 0.001*	7.7/10 5.1/10	p ≤ 0.002*

Figure 1. Literature search protocol.

Table 2 Summary of study characteristics.

Author, Year	Trial Type	Population	Sample Size	Age, mean (range)	Female, No. (%)	Skin type (%)						Anatomical location (hair colour)
						I	II	III	IV	V	VI
Laser Types (population number)	Laser Settings				No. of sessions, intervals	Control	Method used to assess hair-reduction	Setting (Month)	No of months from last treatment to first follow-up	No of months from last treatment to last follow-up	No of Dropouts (%)	Main findings
	Wavelength (nm)	Energy (J/cm^2) *= J/cm^3	Pulse Duration (ms)	Spot Size (mm)
Davoudi, 2008	Within-patient RCT	Volunteers with skin type III–IV	20	32.6 (16-50)	11 (55)	0	0	15 (75)	5 (25)	0	0	Legs (black)
Galadari, 2003	RCT	Females with skin type IV–VI	100	NS	100 (100%)	0	0	0	NS			Upper lip, face (black)
Haak, 2010	Within-patient RCT	Hirsute women with intrinsically normal or medically normalized testosterone levels; skin type IV–V	35	38 (19-59)	35 (100)	NS					0	Face (brown, black)
Klein, 2013	Within-patient RCT	Fitzpatrick skin type I–III and brown to black axillary hair	30	33.7 (21–50)	30 (100)	0	18 (60)	12 (40)	0	0	0	Axilla (brown, black)
McGill, 2007	Within-patient RCT	Women with diagnosis of PCOS; Fitzpatrick skin types I–IV	38	34 (16-69)	38 (100%)	34		4		0	0	Face (brown, black)

Figure 2. Risk of bias assessments.