Growth Inhibition and Transient Temperature Measurement of Laser-Irradiated Hair Fibers and Follicles

    January 2000 in “ Optics Letters ”
    Lawrence K. Iwaki, Todd A. Heimer, Edwin J. Heilweil, P. Manos
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    TLDR Laser treatment can inhibit hair growth and different hair colors reach different temperatures when lasered.
    In 2000, researchers Iwaki, Heimer, Heilweil, and Manos studied the temperature changes, infrared images, and heat propagation kinetics of laser-irradiated hair fibers and live follicles. They used a cooled InSb focal plane array detector to measure these parameters. Their findings showed that pulsed irradiation of different colored hair follicles under controlled fluence conditions led to catagenic induction, with variations in the maximum temperature reached. Hair fibers rich in eumelanin (black/brown and dark brown) reached maximum infrared temperatures of 400K and 374K, respectively. In contrast, hair containing pheomelanin (blond, gray, and red fibers) yielded lower temperatures of 315K, 310K, and 301K, respectively. These maximum temperatures were observed at the end of 50 ms laser pulses, with emission decays lasting several hundred milliseconds.
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