Am i suitable for Laser treatments?

[Mihai]

Hello.
Sorry for my possible grammatical errors.

I am male, 34 years old, I live in Romania (east european, brown eyes).
Please help me with some advices.

I have a lot of hair of my body and I want to get rid of it with laser technology (I put some pics below, I apologize if this disgust anyone).

In 2 weeks from now I’ll go to 2 clinics for consultations and to get some tests patch.
One clinic has medical dermatologist and only Cutera Coolglide 1064 nm Nd Yag (this one-> pic 1 & pic 2 & pic 3 ).
The other one has only technicians (not medical dermatologist) and GentleLASE / Gentlemax from Candela. Also this clinic offered me a free consultation and a free tests patch.

Questions:

1. what type of skin do I have? (I think 3 or 4)
2. in my case can I use laser to get rid of my hair (chest, belly, back, shoulder, legs)?
3. if YES, what laser to use? Cutera Coolglide 1064 nm Nd Yag or GentleLase or Gentlemax from Candela? And what settings?
4. at what parts of my body should I get the free test patch and how long to wait to see the result?
5. I have more chances to get rid of my body hair, or I have more chances to laser hair stimulation?
   I am little afraid that my back and belly hair will not to respond right and I will get hair grow stimulation.

I had never an epilation for my body, so any advices from you is very welcome.

Thank you very much, i will keep you post it with my situation!

pics:

• back
• upper back
• belly - right side
• belly
• chest & belly
• chest & belly 2
• feet
• foot
• knee
• knee 2
• leg
• leg 2
• leg 3
• leg 4
• legs
• right foot
• right shoulder
• shoulder
• shoulder 2
• thigh

[Bono]

I cannot give you information on laser since I don’t do that. However, some suggestions are appropriate (for any and all hair removal treatments).

Suggestions:

“Map out” a treatment plan. Start with the most important area first (ONE AREA) and get that finished. Then, decide on the next area and get that done. By “done” I really mean DONE … as in permanently removed of hair (or to your liking). Do not get overly ambitious and start working all over the place!

I will be starting with a guy that was a “classic” failed laser patient (white skin and black hair and a “yag” laser). He had “everything” lasered and after almost 3 years of it, nothing worked for him. He spent $12,000 and (with some suggestions from my lawyer) got most of his money back. Do you want to do this?

BE CAREFUL and decide well. Take photos of every area BEFORE having treatment. Give the photos to the laser tech for their own records. Agree upon “what it looks like” BEFORE doing treatments.

Make them tell you what you are going to get for your money (and a REAL completion date). Do not sign the “binding arbitration” agreement. Ask them what they consider to be a “successful treatment?” Does that mean: you come in forever a few times per year? That you have 50% reduction? That you have 100% permanent results? What do THEY consider success! Is their idea of “success” the same as yours?

And, let them know that should the treatment FAIL you will expect to be getting your money back! I do all this with my patients, so I see NO reason the laser clinics can’t do this too!

Oh yeah, consider that they could be “out of business” at “just the right time.” So, who would be responsible for repaying your costs?

[Bono]

BTW … my name was also “Mihai” from my “Magyar” relatives!

[LAGirl]

Your legs have very dense course hair, so laser would work great (at good settings and right laser). Your back and front of your body has mixed types of hair. I would only recommend laser on specific spots that have dense coarse growth. See how much you can get rid of with laser and then switch to electrolysis for the remaining hair if you’re not satisfied with just the reduction.

[Mihai]

Thank you very much, I’ll keep your advices in my mind.

@Michael Bono: I’ll start with one area, shoulders and…I don’t know yet…maybe with my chest and belly. And after those areas, I will continue with my back.
Also, I will talk with the doctor dermatologist to see his opinion.
You give me very wise advices!

@LAgirl: what laser would you recomand for me, Cutera Coolglide 1064 nm Nd Yag or GentleLASE / Gentlemax from Candela?
Thank you again.

[pandispan]

ai un PM

[Mihai]

Hi.

I have news about my experience.

Friday evening I had a free test pach with GentleMax Pro from Candela.
It seems I have 2/3 skin type and the settings for me were:

• Alexandrite laser
• 18 mm spot size
• 14 J
• time of exposure 20 ms
• time for cooling solutions 40/40 ms

To be honest, it hurts a little and I hope after the first treatment to be able to support much better.

Pics before test pach: right shoulder & before test & before test & before test

Pics after test pach (12 hours later): link & link

Pics after test pach (40 hours later): link & link

Saturday morning I went to a dermatologist (who uses only Cutera Coolglide Nd Yag) and he told me the followings:

• to wait for Sciton Alexandrite to be available in Romania, because is the best laser for hair removal;
• my chest area will not respond too well on laser…i’ll only see a small reduction (maybe 20, 25%);
• and…that I am not a good candidate, to take my mind off from laser hair removal, it’s not good for me.

My plans are:

• to go for Candela GentleMax because even on 14 J (18 mm spot size) I felt my skin in fire…but I am ok now, no skin problems.
  Also, even if my hair is not coarse enough, is thick and black and i hope to get a good reduction;
• i’ll wait for 2 months to see how my tested area works;
• after that, i’ll start with: shoulders, upper chest and neck areas for 5, 6 treatments (smth like that - link & link )
  If I’ll be satisfied with results, i’ll continue with legs (my goal here is 50-70% reduction - link ).
  After that, i will try with my back.
  Lower of my chest and belly area will be the last (maybe when i’ll be 36/37 years old, now i am 34).

Please, help me with more suggestions.
Thx.

[Mihai]

Hi.

Here are my treatments for upper body:

• 10.01.2014
• 08.03.2014
• 17.05.2014
• 18.07.2014
• 26.09.2014
• 05.12.2014
• 21.02.2015
• 16.05.2015
  The last two were on the highest settings and I was really in pain…it hurt very bad.
  
  

Now, here how it looks after 11 weeks after my last treatment:

This month I will start on my lower body (but I will continue for my upper body, only for areas with hair, using the highest settings).

For my upper arms I will try electrolysis…I need a small reduction to look more natural.

[fenix]

That looks fantastic compared to before photo. You should expect to see more regrowth after 11 weeks, but everything should stabilize by 8 months and that will tell how successful your outcome is. After that, you may or may not chose to do touch up sessions once a year or once every few years to keep the hairs at bay.

If you have electrolysis available, I would treat shoulders with electrolysis only. If not then doing highest settings on laser is your better bet because lower settings are risky on shoulders as there are cases of laser hair growth stimulated on men’s shoulders.

[Mihai]

Hi.

fenix if I have to go for one touch up session every year to maintain this, I would very happy.
I can’t choose electrolysis for my entire body because I have to travel from my town to another. Sure, is the same town where I get laser hair removal but I only need 1 hour for my upper body.

I will put some pics with my back and shoulders. The problem, for my upper body remain my arms. I think I need electrolysis for them, to reduce the hair only for my upper arms, to make a transition more natural. I don’t think that it will be a good idea to laser the whole hands.

In 3 weeks I will start laser hair removal for my lower body.