P#57  Hair removal and hair follicle targeting

Adeline de Ramecourt, Thérèse Leroy2 and Dominique Van Neste2. 1Private electrolysis practice, Paris, France 2Skinterface, Tournai, Belgium

The target of hair removal techniques is to remove the visible hair and/or ideally to permanently alter the hair follicle function in order to prevent hair re-growth. This paper is a synthetic review of frequently used physical techniques aimed at temporarily or definitively removing the hair: 1. Traction epilation taking advantage of the hair as a fibre to remove it. 2. Electrolysis with needle delivery of electrical current at relatively high intensity inside the hair follicle. 3. LASER administration into the skin with transfer of energy into yet unidentified targets. Other methods such as liposome delivery of follicular inhibitors is being addressed elsewhere during this meeting. The authors would like to consider a number of pathological genetic or acquired conditions where hair regrowth is permanently altered. These "natural conditions" could help in the understanding of mechanisms, efficacy but also adverse events of existing hair removal procedures.