In most people, they come in for a series of three to eight treatments. The intervals between those sessions are about six weeks apart. At the end of all of those treatments, because people do continue to grow new hairs, there needs to be touch-up sessions about every six months. Pain is a relative term. The sensation of LHR has been said to be that of a rubber band hitting the skin.
Most people require no topical anesthesia.
Occasionally when more sensitive areas such as the bikini area or the armpits are treated, we use a topical numbing cream before the procedure. Nevertheless, whatever the discomfort one has from LHR is less than that seen from waxing or electrolysis. There is a new cream that has been recently FDA approved that is not available yet but will be soon. This cream changes the quality of hair from curly to straight and will temporarily remove hair. It is expected that doctors performing laser hair removal will be using this cream in conjunction with LHR so as to better the results.