PONE-D-23-07622Evaluating the Effectiveness of Laser Hair reduction using a Home use Laser in comparison to a Diode LaserPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Mpofana,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

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Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

You must be clear about the difference between laser and IPL. The mechanisms of action need to be further explained. The limitations must be further discussed. Additional references are required as mentioned

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Reviewers' comments:

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Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: I Don't Know

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: The title is inaccurate and misleading. It should read: "Evaluating the effectiveness of laser hair reduction using a home-use intense pulsed light device in comparison with a professional diode laser"

There must be a distinction between 'laser' and 'intense pulsed light' as they are radically different technologies and this must be maintained throughout the article to avoid misunderstanding.

The mode of action in the introduction needs to be clarified and expanded.

Retinal injury is not the only risk, consider the pigmented iris!

In the discussion, there is insufficient reference to published data on safety of home-use IPL devices (see attachment).

Te statements about loss of skin contact and light spillage require clarification and expansion (see attachment).

The text about US FDA 510k pre-marketing clearance of the devices used in this study relates only to permission to sell a product in the USA based on predicate information and has no relevance to this study. Reference FDA clearances is correctly used in the conclusions.

The Conclusions need to be revised and expanded to include limitations of this study e.g. small sample size, need for more randomised, controlled studies, etc .(see attachment).

Several important references are missing including recent publications in international peer-reviewed journals including:

Trelles M, Ash C, Town G. Clinical and Microscopic Evaluation of Long-Term Epilation Effects of the iPulse Personal Home-Use Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Device. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2014; 28(2):160-168.

Town G, Botchkareva N, Uzunbajakava N, Nuijs A, van Vlimmeren M, Ash C, Dierickx C. Light-based home-use devices for hair removal: Why do they work and how effective they are? Lasers Surg Med. 2019; 51:481-490. Early View online: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/lsm.23061.

Hatterskey AM, Kiernan M, Goldberg D, Dierickx C, Sliney DH, Haedersdal M. Nash JF. Assessment of adverse events for a home-use intense pulsed light hair removal device using postmarketing surveillance. Lasers Surg Med 2023; Mar 8. doi: 10.1002/lsm.23650.Online ahead of print.

Town G, Ash C, Dierickx C, Fritz K, Bjerring P, Haedersdal M. Guidelines on the safety of light‐based home‐use hair removal devices from the European Society for Laser Dermatology. J Eur

Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2012;26(7):799–811. https://doi.org/10. 1111/j.1468-3083.2011.04406.x

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Reviewer #1: Yes: Godfrey Arthur Town Ph.D.

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: PLoS ONE Manuscript_Review 1.docx

PONE-D-23-07622R1Evaluating the effectiveness of laser hair reduction using a home-use intense pulsed light device in comparison with a professional diode laserPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Mpofana,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

 You have changed the abstract in the submission system but have not changed the text in the paper. Perhaps you submitted the wrong version? You must replace all instances of "home use laser" with "home use IPL device" Please submit a version with all the changes highlighted

==============================

Please submit your revised manuscript by Jun 17 2023 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Michael R Hamblin

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Evaluating the effectiveness of laser hair reduction using a home-use intense pulsed light device in comparison with a professional diode laser

PONE-D-23-07622R2

Dear Dr. Mpofana,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Michael R Hamblin

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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