Laser Hair Removal Too Expensive at Home? Combine Medical Tourism with Your Holiday Abroad
I’m not a particularly hairy person but there are certain areas that I prefer to be totally smooth. These areas are unfortunately prone to razor burn when I shave. In the US, I considered laser hair removal, but it was more expensive than I felt was worth it. I was chatting with another student at Nada Yoga School in India who cleaned and whitened her teeth in Rishikesh because it was so much cheaper than in Florence where she lived. This inspired me to have my retainer replaced for a quarter of what it would have cost in the US. More excitingly, I realised that laser hair removal isn’t cost prohibitive abroad!
On one of my days off from my 200-hour Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training at Nada Yoga School, I went on a little excursion to burn away those unwanted hairs. There are a ton of articles about laser hair removal. However, as of writing this, this is the first that can specifically advise you on getting laser hair removal abroad.
Here’s what you need to know about getting laser abroad:
1. How much cheaper is laser hair removal abroad?
This example will compare where I first compared laser, San Francisco, and where I had my first session abroad, Dehradun, India. I lasered my full chest, back of my neck, lower abdomen, and… another area for the equivalent of $110 by an MD in Dermatology. All of that plus another area would cost $80 by another doctor but unfortunately his laser broke before my appointment. That $110 appointment would cost at least $500 at Laseraway, perhaps San Francisco’s most popular laser location. It doesn’t appear from their website that the Laseraway crew are MDs. However, I do believe Laseraways service would still be superior to what I received in India.
Laseraway has some Groupons available but even with the Groupon, it is still more expensive than laser abroad. Plus, the Groupon isn’t applicable to any private areas.
As a general rule, the cheaper the country, the cheaper the procedure. Don’t expect a deal in London. However, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Mumbai, Zagreb, Mexico City and Medellin are on my radar now. There are a lot of cheap cities in the world. And they don’t even have to be buzzy metropolises. Dehradun, where I had my first treatment is a place I could barely consider a city.
Best countries for medical tourism (image cred)
2. Are you getting treated with a diode laser or IPL?
Diode versus IPL. It’s a debate and if you don’t know about it already, it’s worth a google. In short, diode lasers shoot a narrower and more precise range and typically require fewer sessions (6-8) for maximum results. IPLs shoot a very broad (and generally inaccurate and unnecessary). They are therefore less effective and you’ll need more treatments (at least 8, maybe 12 to 15 – it isn’t so clear). You can buy a home IPL for $200-$500 and treat yourself (although this is perhaps less effective than a doctor’s IPL). However, only a trained professional in a clinic or spa can use a diode laser.
An at-home laser is ultimately more affordable than lasering abroad, however it will take more sessions to see the desired effects. I didn’t want to wait for my next trip abroad and my experience in Dehradun wasn’t pleasant. Therefore, I eventually chose to just go with an at-home IPL laser.
This video discusses the difference in more depth.
For the sake of time and money, if I was going to laser in a clinic, I would personally only accept a diode laser. When in India, I finally chose a well-reviewed dermatologist whose website assured that he had a diode laser. His receptionist unfortunately did not have the English fluency to verify that he had the diode laser and his email didn’t work so I could not contact him directly. The only available appointment was very early in the morning so I awoke at 5am to embark on a two-hour commute via burdensome Indian public transit.
“if I was going to laser in a clinic, I would personally only accept a diode laser”
Once at the clinic, the doctor informed me that his diode laser broke months ago but because of an import embargo, he couldn’t get a replacement. Typical developing world problems and the predictable dark side of medical tourism. He wanted to use an IPL laser and while my time was already wasted, I didn’t want to waste my money. He recommended another doctor who could see me nearby (who ultimately incorrectly performed the treatment at my expense). This experience taught me that however you have to do it, check that the doctor has a diode laser before confirming an appointment. You may need to use some creativity to verify as much, but don’t assume that a website will be updated or that a receptionist will have a clue. Do whatever you can to have your imperative questions answered by the doctor herself beforehand. This goes for any type of medical tourism.
3. Does the person holding that laser have an MD in Dermatology?
Don’t let your tech forget to put goggles on you to protect your eyes from the laser!
(image cred)
You can make your mind up for yourself if you will required someone with an MD in Dermatology to run a laser over your skin. Probably in a highly-rated place in the US, I wouldn’t require an MD, but quality standards abroad are often unclear. Therefore, I would personally only get laser from an MD with the exception of a Western-oriented place with a plethora of consistently high reviews.
Developing countries will typically have lower standards concerning who can perform certain procedures. Even if they do have certain standards, you really have no way to know if those standards are enforced or not. The risks of getting a bad laser treatment include getting painful blisters, wasting your time and money with an ineffective treatment. In a worse scenario, you could potentially end up with permanent hypo- or hyperpigmentation. You want a proper professional working on you with any type of medical tourism. If you can afford to travel and to get luxury cosmetic procedures, you can afford the difference between a layperson with a laser and studied MD.
However, just because a person has an MD doesn’t not necessarily mean that they are qualified. Always go off reviews.
4. Will the laser hair removal clinic remove hair from the areas you want?
Practically everywhere will be happy to treat your armpits, your chest, your legs, etc. Most places will laser your face, although you want to be extra careful about selecting a well-reviewed doctor if you will have facial hair removal. If you want any of your private areas treated, you are going to have to check in advance that the clinic you are considering will perform in those areas. It’s a more sensitive area with different complexities and you should only let someone who has experience with pubic/genital laser hair removal fire away at the nether regions. If they won’t, they probably at least have a recommendation for someone who could.
6. How fluent is the dermatologist in English?
I never used to expect a professional abroad to speak English well, medical professionals included. To expect as much would be to have an unhealthy cultural superiority complex right? I certainly don’t believe that the US, or even English is a superior language. So go ahead, speak your language and we’ll make it work with Google Translate.
But then I was chatting with a well-educated Croatian man in Croatia and he told me that he only speaks to doctors in English as a way to test them. He is a PhD himself and a verified hypochondriac so he’s quite well-versed in medical literature. He explained that practically all modern medical text is printed in English. Many medical articles are not translated. Therefore, a doctor who is not fluent in English is not able to stay appropriately up to date with medical news, not to mention that their studies would have been limited only to works that were translated. Many medical texts aren’t translated though, so doctors who aren’t fluent in English ultimately will have a gap of knowledge.
“a doctor who is not fluent in English is not able to stay appropriately up to date with medical news”
He used the example that in his entire academic career, he only ever discovered one useful article written in Croatian, even though his field was Croatian sociology! The reason is that even Croatians publish their academic articles in English. The same is presumably true the world over. China and Japan may be exceptions.
Unfortunately it is often difficult to speak directly to a doctor before a visit to a hospital or clinic. With a bit of persistence and perhaps even forwardly asking to speak to the doctor, you may have a chance of a quick minute on the phone with your doctor. That minute will often give you information that receptionists typically lack or cannot express in English. Fortunately the rest of the world differs from the US in that doctors must tell you how much a consultation will cost and how much any procedure will cost before working on you. Therefore, while you may have to pay a small fee to meet with a doctor, you can at least gain an impression of them before any procedures. With any type of medical tourism, you can generally expect consultation fees to to be quite cheap.
7. Are you tracking your laser hair removal procedures?
You may get one treatment in Thailand, another in Mexico, a couple more in Romania or Colombia or wherever else the wind might take you. No one is going to bother keeping track of what you got where except yourself. After you do a few treatments, you may start to forget who did what when. If you do a session too soon, you are wasting your money with a treatment that isn’t as effective as it would be if you wait a few weeks. Maybe you’ll decide you only want some areas less hairy, but not completely smooth.
If you don’t keep track, you could do more treatments on that area than you mean to and end up completely hairless. Perhaps you get a price quote in one city and can’t remember how much it was in another which would indicate if you should go ahead with the procedure or wait until you revisit that other city. Tracking only makes sense and it requires very little work.
Laser Hair Removal Tracking Sample
Make a little note in your phone titled “Tracking Hair Removal” and every time you get a treatment, fill in:
Date:
Areas Treated:
Doctor:
Doctor’s Contact Info:
Costs:
Impression of Visit:
Not only will this help better inform your future treatments, but when your friend’s ask about it, which you know some will, you’ll be able to help them.
Better yet! Track your appointments by leaving comments on this blog post and your comments can then directly help other people who are interested in getting laser abroad.
8. To shave or not to shave before a laser hair removal session?
That is the question. In the West, the doctor will charge to shave you. However, in developing countries, it seems they do not or if they do, the price is quite negligible. I chose to let the doctor shave me because the threat that I would develop razor burn by the time of my appointment and that might interfere with the procedure worried me. Plus, the doctor then knows exactly where to treat if she shaves you at the clinic.
9. How long should a laser hair removal session last?
Even with a good laser, the procedure is lengthy. (image cred)
This is where I made my biggest mistake getting laser abroad. The answer is that it depends so much on the laser. My doctor, a rather unimpressive woman in not such a reassuring office, sped through the procedure faster than it would take to shave with an electric razor. Some lasers are faster than others, but none are yet that fast. Because I didn’t know what to expect, I just accepted that laser hair removal must in fact be a surprisingly speedy and painless procedure.
I paid for the treatment and when the hair didn’t fall out two weeks later like I knew it should, I did some research. It became obvious that I completely wasted my time and money because she performed the treatment much too quickly. Don’t make the same mistake as me. Even if I knew that the treatment was useless as she performed it, it still would have been quite an awkward situation to deal with on the spot. Because she came recommended from a well-reviewed doctor and I was in a time-sensitive situation without strong internet, I didn’t adequately research her. This outcome was the consequence of that error.
10. Where do I find reviews about doctors for laser hair removal abroad?
GoogleMaps is thriving throughout most of the world. Researching a doctor without checking GoogleMaps is incomplete research. Different countries have different forums and review sites for doctors. Usually, you will find whatever the main national/regional site is through a Google search of the doctor. India for example uses lybrate.com. Be sure to leave reviews of your doctor to help other future medical tourists.
1 comment