Background and Objectives: Traditional hair-removal techniques have included shaving, waxing, chemical depilation, and electrolysis. All of these methods result in temporary hair removal. Laser hair removal (LHR) is a widely used treatment for unwanted hair. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of number of treatment sessions and total energy on hair reduction.Materials and Methods: in this prospective study, 71 women referred to dermatologic clinic of Rasol Akaram Hospital during 2007-2008, were enrolled. The women was treated by 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser. Patients' responses (hair reduction rate) were evaluated by two blinded dermatologist according to visual analogue scale (VAS). Results: Patients' mean age was 27.8±5.7 years old. Minimum and maximum treatment sessions were 2 and 16, respectively. Mean of hair reduction was %85.5±%9.7. There was a significant correlation between hair reduction and number of sessions (r=0.471, p<0.001).Conclusions: the study showed that Nd:YAG laser is a safe method with acceptable response rate for hair removal.

Background: Numerous lasers are currently available for hair removal. Objective: To study the efficacy of a pulsed diodelaser for removing unwanted hair Patients & Methods: In this quasiexperimental clinical trial, 39 patients with unwanted hairs on chin referred to Novin- Didegan Laser Center in Tehran were treated with a diode laser system (Palomar, 81Onm). Fluences ranging from 40 to 64 J/cm2(mean, 48.3 J/cm2) were used and 3 to 7 treatment sessions with 4-6 weeks apart were performed. Evaluation of hair reduction was performed 6 months after the last treatment usingpaired t test. Results: Six months after the last treatment hair reduction was more than 75% in 23 patients. The mean hair reduction was 74.7%±20.5. Transient hyperpigmentation was observed in 9 patients(23%). Conclusion: The 810 nm diode laser is an efficient and a safe modality for hair removal in all skin types.

Background: Menkes kinky Hair syndrome is a sex-liked recessive hereditary disorder whit severe mental and growth retardation, developmental delay, convulsion, cerebral degeneration, hypotonia, abnormal and light-colored hair, depigmented skin with a dark patchy pattern due to disseminated vasculopathy. Patients usually die during the first or the early months of the second year of life.In this syndrome, there is a cellular copper transport defect that leads to decreased levels of cupper in plasma and other tissues such as brain and liver as well as a decline in the activity of copper containing enzymes. Case report: In this article, a seven-months-old boy suffering from failure to thrive, microcephaly and convulsions due to this syndrome is presented.

Once, laser and IPL Procedures were limited to physicians and operating rooms, but during the last decade, the laser and light-based devices have become much smaller, cheaper and easier to use. Such home-use and light sources should be not only really clinically effective, but also being safe. In addition they should be cost-effective in mass production and easy to use without special training. Since laser hair reduction seems to require less expertise than other laser procedures, companies have developed low- energy laser and pulsed-light devices for hair removal. Although the results of these home-use devices for hair reduction are still inferior to office-based ones, it seems that market for these devices will rapidly expand in the next years. In these articles we will focus on currently available IPL and laser sources for hair reduction and then we will discuss about other home-use laser and light-based devices in dermatology.

Background: The theory of selective photothermolysis led to the development of a variety of different laser systems which range from the shorter spectrum of 694 nm ruby laser to the middle with the 755 nm alexandriteand 810 nm diode lasers to the longendwith the 1064nm (Nd: YAG) laser. Objective: A systematic review on the clinical trials with use of various laser sources for hair removal Methods: All clinical trials related to hair removal lasers in 1998-2003 were selected. After elimination of heterogenicity sources in data,results were synthesizedon the basis of laser type and were compared using ANOVA and t tests, p value < 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: Hair reduction at least 6 treatment months after the last treatment and after 3 sessions were 57.5% ± 14% , 42.3%±24%, 54.7%± 17%, 52.8%±6% for diode, Nd: YAG, alexandrite and ruby lasers, respectively. Diode laser was the most effective and Nd: YAG had the least effect in hair removal. Conclusion: The most effective laser for hair removal is diode, but higher fluences is needed in the darker skin types and this is accompanied with more complications, so it is advised to use this laser for light skin types.

Background: Human hair can be used as an inexpensive and accessible adsorbent to remove a variety of pollutants from air. Although several studies have been done on removal of formaldehyde from wastewater by human hair, to date no study has investigated using hair to remove formaldehyde from air. Therefore, the aim of this study was to remove formaldehyde from synthetic contaminated air by a reactor packed with human hair. Methods: Air contaminated with formaldehyde was introduced into a cylindrical reactor packed with human hair at the initial concentration of 8500 mg/L. Formaldehyde concentration was measured in the influent and effluent of the reactor to indicate formaldehyde removal efficiency. Other measurements of parameters effective on formaldehyde removal were taken including amount of human hair and environmental temperature. Results: Results of this study revealed that each gram of human hair was able to remove 0. 13 to 0. 49 g of formaldehyde from air. Human hair adsorbed 98% of formaldehyde from synthetic contaminated air under 20˚ C. These results demonstrate that increased temperature had a negative effect on formaldehyde removal. Conclusion: Results of this study show that human hair can be applied as a simple and inexpensive adsorbent to remove formaldehyde from industrial air exhaust. In addition, results of these tests can be considered as a small step to promote better air quality.

Eruptive vellus hair cysts are rare disorders that present as cystic papules usually on the chest and extremities. Facial involvement is very rare in this disorder and few reports of facial eruptive vellus hair cysts have been presented till now. We present two cases of eruptive vellus hair cysts in a mother and her daughter with facial distribution.    

A 40-year old woman was visited at our clinic with a history of palpable purpura appearing after alexandrite laser (Apogee 5500 Alex, 15mm spot shot, 755 nm wave length, 18 j/cm2 fluence) hair removal. The skin lesions were located bilaterally on the lower extremity (Figure1). Other physical examinations were unremarkable. The patient had no history of taking medications, underlying systemic diseases and family history of collagen-vascular diseases. Blood biochemical analysis was normal and all the tests for collagen vascular diseases were negative. The patient declined skin biopsy.