Can Lasering Your Bikini Area Cause Infertility?

Allure Daily Beauty Reporter
Getty Images
Getty Images

Elizabeth Siegel, Allure magazine

There's an internet rumor creeping around that we want to squash right now, before anyone else buys into it. Getting laser hair removal on your bikini area cannot cause infertility. We know your friend's sister's cousin's friend swears she knows someone it happened to, but it's just not possible.

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"The way laser hair removal works is by targeting pigment in a hair follicle," says Elizabeth Hale, a dermatologist and a clinical associate professor of dermatology at the New York University School of Medicine in New York City. "The lasers we use penetrate less than one millimeter into the skin, so there's no way they could reach your ovaries. But even if they did-which they never, ever could-they wouldn't do anything, anyway. They work on pigment and have no bearing on fertility."

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What is risky, however, is getting laser hair removal from a spa tech instead of a dermatologist. "Using the wrong laser on dark skin or someone with a tan can create burns or dark spots," says Hale. So pass that on to your friend's sister's cousin's friend, OK?

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