Background: With light-assisted hair removal becoming widely used, reports of adverse effects are increasing.
Objective: To review all the reported optical incidents and cutaneous complications of laser or intense pulse light-assisted hair removal.
Methods: A PubMed database systematic search was performed to identify studies reporting such adverse events before July 2022 using the Mesh terms "adverse effects" AND "hair removal" AND ("laser" OR "intense pulse light").
Results: Altogether, 358 references were identified. After excluding duplicates, unrelated articles, guidelines, and conference abstracts, then adding references from studies bibliography, 104 publications were included. Ocular incidents consisted of anterior uveitis, iritis and iris atrophy, pupillary distortion, posterior synechiae, anterior chamber pigment, and cataracts in the anterior subcapsular region. Cutaneous complications consisted of pain, burns, folliculitis, leukotrichia, paradoxical hypertrichosis, pigmentary changes, changes in nevi, pili bigemini, herpes infection, hyperhidrosis, bromhidrosis, Fox-Fordyce disease, and frostbite from the cooling system. They were mostly correlated to skin type and body area as well as to light device and set parameters. Intense pulse light devices were found to be less painful than alexandrite laser, yet more painful than diode laser; Nd:YAG laser had the highest pain score.
Conclusion: Optical incidents can be systematically avoided. Cutaneous complications are usually related to professional errors and patient characteristics. Better knowledge of laser physics and adequate training of laser operators are key recommendations to avoid undesirable side effects. Safety recommendations help prevent most of the reported complications.
Keywords: Nd:YAG laser; adverse event; alexandrite laser; diode laser; hair removal; intense pulse light; ocular incident.