any opionions/experience with the syneron polaris

I am considering hair removal with the syneron polaris. This is not the comet unit (800nm) The polaris is 900nm diode laser with RF energy. The comet and the polaris received FDA 510K clearance for permanent hair reduction in November 2004. What does 510K clearance mean?

I had test patches performed with the polaris and the lightsheer. The polaris hurt more with less redness. The lightsheer hurt less, but the redness lasted 3-4 days. I know you can not directly compare setting parameters, but I am not sure what this means. I am familiar with the wavelenght/absorption curves for hemoglobin/water/melanin. In theory the 770nm alexandrite and 800nm diode lasers have more optimal profiles. (I am skin type 3-4, with very dark brown/black hair).

I would choose lightsheer on reputation alone, but this would cost twice as much. The polaris is at a “chain” type franchise and the lightsheer with an independent owner/operator.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I am not as familiar with the Polaris. The diode laser/RF combination shows some promise.

How do the test patches compare?

For me the Aurora had less pain and less redness than the Lightsheer. But the Aurora is not nearly as powerful.

I would go with the Polaris. If it was more painful and you had less redness, that tells me that it did a better job of targeting just the hair. The Nd:YAG is more painful than the Aurora and caused less redness and it did great at hair removal. It sounds like the Polaris may provide similar results.

Let us know how it works.

RJC2001