The word laser covers two unrelated treatments here. Hair removal targets the pigment in the hair to damage the follicle while it is in its growth phase. Resurfacing heats or vaporises the surface layers of the skin to prompt renewal, softening fine lines, scars and uneven texture. The indications, the downtime and the risks have almost nothing in common.
Hair removal
Because only follicles in the growth phase respond, a course of spaced sessions is needed, and the realistic aim is a lasting reduction in hair rather than complete removal. Fair, white and red hair responds poorly. Maintenance sessions are commonly required later. Hair growth that has appeared recently or in an unusual pattern should prompt a search for a hormonal cause before any course is started.
Resurfacing and downtime
This is what patients underestimate. With a carbon dioxide laser, healing takes up to two weeks; with erbium, about a week, with peeling starting on day five to seven. Pinkness lightens over two to three months and can take up to a year to resolve fully. For comparison, a superficial peel heals in one to seven days and needs three to five sessions every two to five weeks; a medium peel heals in seven to fourteen days, with redness, swelling and possible blistering and crusting; a deep peel means bandaging for fourteen to twenty-one days, two to three weeks recuperating at home, sun avoidance for three to six months and daily sunscreen thereafter, and is done once in a lifetime.
Skin tone changes the calculation
Darker skin is more prone to burns and to lasting dark marks, and must be treated by someone experienced with darker skin tones. No numeric incidence by skin type exists, so distrust any figure offered. Ask for a test patch.