Comparison of Efficacy Between Novel Robot-Assisted Laser Hair Removal and Physician-Directed Hair Removal.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to evaluate the number of laser irradiation sessions, process duration, and hair removal rate required for robot-assisted automatic versus physician-directed laser hair removal.


BACKGROUND
This research group previously developed and tested an automatic laser hair removal (LHR) system to provide uniform laser treatment distribution.


METHODS
Six subjects 20-40 years of age, with skin types III-IV completed this study. A home-use LHR device with an 810 nm diode laser was used to treat equal-sized areas of both upper thighs; a random computer generator determined the use of a robot-assisted automatic LHR system or physician-directed LHR on the right or left thigh. The treatment schedule comprised five visits; subjects were photographed and shaved, and received LHR during the first through the fourth visits at 2-week intervals. The fifth visit occurred 1 month after the fourth, and only involved photography.


RESULTS
All subjects successfully completed the clinical trial with no noticeable or permanent side effects. The average hair removal rates were 49.0% (standard error of the mean [SEM]: 4.0) and 29.5% (SEM: 4.0) for robot-assisted and physician-directed LHR, respectively. The average treatment duration and number of irradiation shots were 18 min, 30 sec (SEM: 33 sec) and 260 (SEM: 5.7) for robot-assisted LHR and 3 min, 11 sec (SEM: 15 sec) and 73 (SEM: 5.9) for physician-directed LHR.


CONCLUSIONS
This clinical study successfully demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of robot-assisted LHR. The proposed novel system will benefit both patients and clinicians.
1 Interdisciplinary Program for Bioengineering, College of Engineering, Seoul National University Seoul , Korea.
Hyoung-Woo
HW
Lim
2 Department of Dermatology, Institute of Human-Environment Interface Biology, Seoul National University College of Medicine , Seoul, Korea.
Dong-Hun
DH
Lee
1 Interdisciplinary Program for Bioengineering, College of Engineering, Seoul National University Seoul , Korea.
Minwoo
M
Cho
1 Interdisciplinary Program for Bioengineering, College of Engineering, Seoul National University Seoul , Korea.
Sungwoo
S
Park
3 JMO Dermatology , Seoul, Korea.
Wooseok
W
Koh
4 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Institute of Advanced Aerospace Technology, Seoul National University College of Engineering , Seoul, Korea.
Youdan
Y
Kim
2 Department of Dermatology, Institute of Human-Environment Interface Biology, Seoul National University College of Medicine , Seoul, Korea.
Jin Ho
JH
Chung
5 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Seoul National University College of Medicine , Seoul, Korea.|6 Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, Seoul National University , Seoul, Korea.
Sungwan
S
Kim
D000328:Adult; D006204:Hair Removal / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012371:Robotics / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013848:Thigh / Q000528:radiation effects; D055815:Young Adult