PREFACE BY DR MARIO TRELLES
"When a decision is made to write a book (no easy task, I’m sure), I think the author decides
to use free verse and relate personal passages. It’s like pouring water into a fountain, adding experiences without almost noticing them added to the existing water. Or, at the very least, you could even tint that water a little with the colour of what you communicate, but knowing that over time the new hue would disappear. But if you have the courage to start writing a technical text, the task is much more difficult, as it first involves reading-studying-repeating and finally capturing the profiled personal version of a piece of knowledge, in such a way that it can easily reach many more readers.
We are often “petrified” by the wording of textbooks and we hardly notice the changes that are included in them to bring them up to date, because science requires time to assimilate and validate it. The change would have to be major in order to remove the foundations of what is known to the point where it would be possible to discard “what is written and recognised”, with contributions that could possibly be explained and interpreted in a way that is not confusing.
So, when I read this book, I felt my enthusiasm refreshed, as I revisited a familiar topic, worked on with a different approach, which helped me to find enlightening paths (without the clumsy activisms of repeating and repeating lessons), which could well serve me in my frequent academic occupation.
I believe that by recommending this book, I will be of particular benefit to interested patients who want to know more about how laser can remove hair and, even more so, if they want to learn how its action can be developed by targeting a chromophore that it belongs to.
When I read Sabrina Gomes’ book, I found a very mature text, in which you can see that the author hasn’t let her imagination tempt her and, on the contrary, offers the fruit, the synthesis of her knowledge. The development of the book is intelligent and well-written, as it explains laser hair removal and hair removal with intense pulsed light systems in a gentle, accessible and entertaining way.
It is totally comprehensible (in all the long list of synonyms the word can have) as it is a clear and easy-to-read manuscript in which the author makes difficult and tedious subjects, such as the physical foundations of the laser, atomic transitions, selective absorption phenomena or extended thermal therapeutic action, transparent and approachable, doing so with great resourcefulness. Furthermore, it is for the reader who has not previously had contact with the therapeutic properties of the laser and/or has not received explanations of the mechanism of action of light in its hair removal action.
To reiterate, the book is gentle and instructive, and it would even be advisable for every patient to have the opportunity to read it if they want to understand, at least in broad strokes, how light is not only capable of eliminating hair but also of treating and curing it, which until a few years ago was difficult to do; diseases that with treatments obtained grotesque solutions (most of the time), which today can be avoided by giving the patient the opportunity to experience satisfaction, this achievement is of recognised importance when it is considered in the list of symptoms that the individual must have in order to feel healthy.
This is what the World Health Organization means when it refers to personal esteem and the satisfaction of being able to look in the mirror and feel happy with the image you see reflected back. And this is apropos, because permanent hair removal, as an elective treatment, is not just an act aimed at beauty; it’s about finding the satisfaction of looking better and liking the way you look.
I sincerely congratulate Sabrina on her work, and offer her my best wishes that she succeeds in her profession, and continues her relentless thirst for knowledge."
Dr. Mario Trelles, MD PhD
Aesthetic Plastic Surgeon
Dubai (UAE), 2022
