Sammy Francis Murday
University of Muenster
Germany
Title: Evidence in aesthetic laser medicine: An analysis with focus on hair removal
Biography
Biography: Sammy Francis Murday
Abstract
Evidence based medicine is the process of systematically reviewing, evaluating and using clinical research findings to aid the delivery of best clinical care to patients. Over the past decades lasers became very popular in the field of aesthetic medicine and many approaches are available. Although the numbers of treated patients and indications to treat are high; the number of valuable clinical studies is limited. To decipher the different levels of evidence available for laser treatments, we performed an analysis of current studies and reviews. Since there are many aesthetic indications for laser treatment we focused on the distinct field of hair removal and searched for data from the Chochrane library, PubMed and Medline. Photoepilation is approximately one of the most common medical applications of Laser medicine and has a big economical impact. The use of lasers for hair removal has been approved by FDA in 1996. Until today about 21 randomized controlled trials and five systematic reviews are published. Although randomization processes and presentation of methods are mainly poor and follow-ups are short in time best evidence can be stated for the diode and alexandrite lasers followed by Nd:YAG lasers and IPL. Nevertheless there is no satisfying evidence for permanent hair removal but only for hair reduction. Further high quality studies are required to improve the levels of evidence. In the future EBM could help to communicate expectations and outcomes with patients. Thereby patient dissatisfaction, side effects and malpractice could be reduced