For about the last year, consumers who once went to cosmetic plastic surgeons, aestheticians or a Medi-spa for laser hair removal could buy a smaller, slower version of the device to use at home.

Regardless where the device is located, laser technology removes unwanted hair on the:

• Legs
• Bikini line
• Underarms

Two such devices, the Silk ‘n Hair Remover and the TRIA, are both FDA-cleared and will set you back anywhere from $800 to $950.

For any gadget or gear heads that may be reading, the gizmos work with pulsed light technology powered by a smaller diode laser.

Laser light eventually destroys the hair follicles but is said to be troublesome with blonde, red or white hair and on very dark skin. Several applications over some weeks are required.

The Tria, used in Japan since 2005, was cleared in 2008 by the FDA for use in the United States and featured in Allure Magazine that same year.

RealSelf.com is asking users to write a review on one laser hair removal device.

According to the Wall Street Journal, home versions of cosmetic machines normally found in the office of plastic and cosmetic surgeons is a trend that will continue, even in a depressed economy.

One industry insider — the president of a firm that manufacturers commercial lasers for plastic surgery offices and Medi-spas — told the WSJ:

“The market potential is much larger (for home use) than for the professional market as I believe most people would rather have the opportunity to buy the technology and use it at home than go to the doctor’s office.”

Well, yeah, to a point, anyhow.

Over-the-counter hair removal gadgets are one thing but we would not mark off the days until a do-it-yourself-kit for eyelid lifts or face lifts appears on drugstore shelves!

Underscoring the executive’s point about consumers doing it themselves was the June, 2009, announcement of a laser-based device that purports to add a home machine for removing facial wrinkles in the comfort of your own home.

We haven’t actually tested the devices so proceed with caution – burns are the most common risk.

FDA-cleared, the laser device made by Palomar Technologies has not yet scheduled a release date for its machine nor announced a price.

Plastic surgeons and dermatologists have advised sun bathers for many years to give up the habit.

But a recent report in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology reveals young women are still worshipping the sun and paying the price: skin cancer is on the rise, particularly in that demographic.

The National Cancer Institute studied Caucasian men and women 15 to 39 years old between 1973 and 2004. Findings? Annual cases of melanoma increased from 9.4 cases per 100,000 people surveyed to 13.9 cases, a rise of 50 percent!

But for men, the rate leveled off in 1980 at 7.7 cases per 100,000 people and remained constant.

While surgical lasers can’t cure cancer, many plastic and cosmetic surgeons use lasers to remove or lessen the scars resulting from the condition.

Without use of a scalpel, lasers can help correct skin problems such as:

• Sun and age spots and other discolorations
• Facial scarring, especially acne scars.
• Birthmarks
• Spider veins
• Moles
• Warts
• Unwanted tattoos
• Unwanted hair
• Wrinkles and crow’s feet

But the $64,000 question might be: why does anybody want a tan in the first place?

Young women are still getting tans on the beach, poolside and in tanning salons because we identify a dark tan with Hollywood stars, wealth and with having massive amounts of leisure time.

But in the middle ages, it was exactly the reverse: virtually everybody worked outside farming in the sun and sported a deep tan.

So the really hot look way back then – for Europeans, anyhow – was a milk white complexion which then was associated with lots of leisure time spent indoors and wealth.

A sociology professor at Trent University, Stephen Katz, sums up this point, “Tans were labor tans, and not leisure tans like they are today.”

Maybe soon, we’ll again get to the point where we associate no tans at all with good health!

Have you ever had a laser procedure?