Eye Safety

One of the safety concerns related to facial hair treatment is the use of laser near the eye or the periorbital area. A direct laser light exposure to open eye carries the risk of serious injury to retina, including permanent blindness. The laser irradiance level in most epilation procedures can easily exceed the maximal permissible levels (MPE) for retinal injury in as short as few millisecond exposure time. Therefore, it is highly recommended that the patients, the treating clinicians, and others in the treatment room wear eye safety goggles that are appropriate for the intensity and the wavelength of the laser being used. Though the risk for retinal injury can be effectively managed with proper eye protection, the risk remains for the pigmented eye structures such as iris during treatments near the eye where the laser light can reach the interior of the eye indirectly by scatter and diffusion through the periocular tissue. The light that enters the bony orbit can get absorbed by the darkly pigmented iris. A case report on damage to iris structure after laser eyelid epilation without the use of protective eye shield was reported by Herbold [43]. A case of diode laser-induced iris atrophy was reported by Brilakis [44]. In this study, a similar hair removal procedure was performed on the eyelid, again without proper eye protection [44]. Pham performed laser removal of eyelashes on five subjects using metal eye shields placed behind the eyelids and found no evidence of eye damage assessed immediately and 3-6 months after treatment [45].