Does Laser Hair Removal Affect Fertility?
No. Laser hair removal does not cause infertility, and there is no evidence that it affects fertility. The light is absorbed within the top few millimetres of skin, where the hair follicle sits. The ovaries are several centimetres deeper, inside the pelvis, and the light does not reach them.
That is the short answer. The rest of this page explains why the worry is so common, the one condition that genuinely links unwanted hair and fertility, and what changes if you are trying to conceive or already pregnant.
What the laser actually reaches
Hair-removal lasers work by heating pigment. Their light, deep red and near-infrared at roughly 755 to 1,064 nanometres, is absorbed by the melanin in the hair shaft and bulb, and the heat that builds up there disables the follicle. The FEMME 4D used at our clinics combines four wavelengths, including 808 nm and 1064 nm, all within that range.
Because the energy is used up heating pigment in the skin, it does not carry on into the body. That is the design: the hair bulb is the target, and it sits only a few millimetres below the surface. Each pulse lasts a fraction of a second, the skin is cooled while it is treated, and the treatment does not raise your body temperature or change your hormone levels.
The light stops here
What about Brazilian and bikini laser?
Most of the worry is about the bikini line and Brazilian, because that skin is closest to the reproductive organs. The physics is the same for every area: the light is absorbed in the skin, a few millimetres deep, and no meaningful amount of it reaches organs centimetres below. If you have been putting off a Brazilian because of fertility, that is not a reason to.
Where the myth comes from
The first source is the word radiation. Laser light is technically radiation, in the same way that the light from a lamp is. The radiation that can harm eggs is ionising radiation, such as X-rays, which carries enough energy to damage DNA. Hair-removal lasers use non-ionising light, which does not. Our page on whether laser hair removal causes cancer explains the difference in more detail.
The second is a real connection that gets read the wrong way round. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) raises androgen levels, and excess hair on the face or body is one of its common signs. According to the World Health Organization, PCOS affects an estimated 10 to 13% of women of reproductive age, up to 70% of whom do not know they have it, and it is the most common cause of anovulation and a leading cause of infertility.
So some of the people who book laser hair removal for the chin, jawline or stomach already have a condition that can affect fertility, sometimes without knowing it. If they later struggle to conceive, it is easy to blame the most recent thing they did. The laser is not the cause: the hair and the fertility problem share one. If your hair growth is new or sudden, or comes with irregular periods, raise it with your doctor. Our guide to laser hair removal for PCOS covers what laser can and cannot do for hormonally driven hair.
Can hair removal cream or shaving cream cause infertility?
There is no evidence that either does. Depilatory creams dissolve the hair shaft chemically at the surface of the skin so it can be wiped away, and shaving cream is a lubricant for the razor. Neither works below the skin. Creams can irritate or burn sensitive skin, so patch-test them and keep to the timing on the pack, but that is a skin problem rather than a fertility one.
If you are trying to conceive
Carry on. Laser hair removal is fine while you are trying to conceive. Tell us you are trying, so that if anything changes we already know, and let us know as soon as you have a positive test, because that is when we pause.
If you are pregnant
We pause until after the birth. That is not because laser hair removal has been shown to harm a pregnancy; it hasn’t. It is because it has never been studied in pregnancy, and an elective treatment can wait. Pregnancy hormones also hold more hairs in the growing phase, so sessions during pregnancy would chase hair that often sheds on its own after the birth. Laser hair removal and pregnancy covers when to stop and how treatment fits around a pregnancy.
The side effects that are real
The side effects laser hair removal does have are on the skin. Redness and swelling around the follicles are common and usually settle within hours to a couple of days. Less often there is temporary darkening or lightening of the skin, or blistering when the settings are wrong for the skin tone, which is why your skin is assessed and a patch test is done before treatment. The full list is in our guide to laser hair removal side effects.
Video: American Academy of Dermatology, “Laser hair removal: Common misconceptions”.
The short version: it does not affect fertility
The laser works at the hair follicle and does not reach beyond the skin. If you are trying to conceive, treatment continues as normal — just tell us, so that if anything changes we already know.
A consultation is built into your first appointment. We review medications and history before any first session.
Frequently asked questions
Can laser hair removal cause infertility?
No. The light is absorbed within the top few millimetres of skin, at the hair follicle, and does not reach the ovaries, which sit several centimetres deeper inside the pelvis. There is no evidence that laser hair removal affects fertility.
Is Brazilian or bikini laser hair removal safe if I want to get pregnant?
Yes. The light is absorbed in the skin whichever area is treated, so the bikini line and Brazilian are no different. Carry on while you are trying to conceive, and pause once you are pregnant.
Can I have laser hair removal while pregnant?
Not at Femme. Laser hair removal has never been studied in pregnancy, so we pause treatment until after the birth. That is not because harm has been shown; it is because an elective treatment can wait.
Can hair removal cream or shaving cream make you infertile?
There is no evidence that either does. Depilatory creams dissolve the hair at the surface of the skin and shaving cream is a lubricant for the razor; neither works below the skin.
Does laser hair removal affect periods or hormones?
No. It heats pigment in the hair follicle and does not change hormone levels. If your periods become irregular, ask your doctor to look for the cause. PCOS, for example, can cause both irregular periods and excess hair.
Why do people think laser hair removal causes infertility?
Two reasons. Laser light gets confused with the ionising radiation in X-rays, which is a different thing. And PCOS causes both excess hair and fertility problems, so people with PCOS often have laser hair removal and later struggle to conceive. The laser is not the cause.
Sources
- World Health Organization, Polycystic ovary syndrome, fact sheet, 22 January 2026.
- American Academy of Dermatology, “Laser hair removal: Common misconceptions” (video above).
