If you ever go to get a laser hair removal treatment done, you might want to do perform the following first: get a background check on the person who is about to shoot real lasers on your skin. If you fail to do the following, you can only blame yourself for being uninformed. Uninformed of what? Well, uninformed that currently in Texas one does not need to possess a license to perform laser hair removal treatments. Yes it's true, what I am saying is that anyone can head to Toy's R Us, buy a toy laser gun, modify it with some gadgets and gizmos from RadioShack, and set up shop ready for business. Unfortunately as harmful as that may sound, the potential risks for injury are real. Serious injuries such as 2nd and 3rd degree burns, and eye damage have been obtained during these procedures. Not likely due to malfunctioning equipment, but instead from the inexperienced people operating them.
So what is our legislature doing about it? Well currently, the lasers have to be registered with the Department of State Health Services to make sure their safe, but the operators don't have to be certified with the state. To me, not requiring the operators to be certified kind of defeats the purpose of registering the lasers for safety right? Since they can still cause harm and burn living flesh if someone doesn't know how to use them.
However some lawmakers have been looking into the issue. A bill by Jim Jackson, would, "Require training, testing and registration in order to perform laser hair removal, but would not completely put the procedure in a doctor's domain." The bill was left pending in the committee. But that sounds like a step in the right direction to me. Now we just need to watch and see if it gets passed. Until then however, beware of the potential dangers of laser hair removal operators.
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In my fellow classmates blog, Texas Gov and You, the authors last post was about an issue concerning laser hair removal.
ReplyDeleteI think that he successfully delivered his side of the arguement. He clearly states the dangers of having unlicensed people performing laser hair removal, and presents the audience with a few facts. The blog is written very well, very easy to read, and gives the audience all the information they need to get his point. I strongly agree with him, there is no reason that we should not make these people professionals at what they do. Laser hair removal is a cosmetic alteration to the human body, with potential of harming the patient, why has someone not taken any action to force these people to have a license? While it may not be as serious as surgery, most if not every business dealing with medical procedures should require a license. As a woman who hates shaving her legs every other day or two, I would never go to one of these places knowing the person about to do my procedure does not have a license. This was a clear arguement and is relavent to our local Government since there is a bill looking to be passed.