Pulsed light is the subject of a new draft decree, which would authorize beauticians to use it.
To permanently get rid of hair, permanent hair removal is on the rise. Two techniques are proposed: laser or “intense pulsed light”, with a flash lamp. Except the latter is the subject of a new draft decree, which would authorize beauticians to use it, to the chagrin of dermatologists.
Sources of diagnostic delay
“Practiced outside the medical context, these treatments can be dangerous and a source of delayed diagnosis and therefore a loss of opportunity for the patient. Indeed, it is possible to miss skin cancer, or hyperpilosity linked to an endocrine pathology”, explains to the Figaro Dr. Luc Sulimovic, President of the National Syndicate of Dermatologists-Venereologists.
“In the case of hair removal devices, the most frequently reported adverse effects are immediate, localized, low-intensity and short-lasting inflammatory reactions”, specified ANSES in 2017 in a report On the question. Pigmentation disorders, later, are observed less frequently. Burning sensations and moderate pain during the sessions, qualified by the experts as mild adverse effects, are also reported. More significant effects are observed after improper use of the devices: deep skin burns and eye burns.
Medical devices
The Agency therefore recommended subjecting devices for aesthetic purposes, including for domestic use, to the same requirements as those applicable to medical devices in order to guarantee satisfactory levels of efficacy and safety.
As a result, the decree still provides that beauticians using this technology must have a “certificate of competence”, valid for five years, which will be given to them following training. Currently, the law provides that “any mode of hair removal, except hair removal with tweezers or wax” is a medical act which can “be performed only by doctors”.
.