Aurora - 4th treatment observation

I have mediterranean skin (Maltese) with dark hairs. Getting my back done.

Treatment Settings

1st 20rf, 24j
2nd 20rf, 26j
3rd 20rf, 28j

I never burnt once, even at 28j i was fine, the pain was tolerable. But when i took my 4th treatment(20rf, 28j) it hurt like hell, I thought i was having an off day for pain tolerance. So he cranked it down to 24j and was giving me breaks but it was still bothering me. I wrote it off as me just being a wuss that day. The next day i was burnt, even where he turned it down, its going away now so im not really concerned, but i cant understand why it was burning me that day but never before. I would have thought my skin would have become more adapted to the treatment. I was using the same guy as before. I will tell him next time what happened, im curious to see what will happen on the 5th. What do you think?

As for the results, there is a substantial reduction or it has turned into fine hair. At this point if it stayed like this i would be totally satisfied. But im going to wait untill everythings finished to give a final judgement. All im really concerened about is the lasting power.

same with me… a substantial reduction or it has turned into fine hair. More than satisfied if it lasts, and so far it seems stable. However, I don’t understand what happened to you either on your forth treatment. Did you blister or just have redness? Did your doctor get a chance to look at it? It must not be too bad if you are going back, but I’m interested in any explenation you come up with. If you don’t mind my asking, what areas are you having treated, and what is the interval between treatments? I’m just curious, and my question has nothing to do with your burns.

Im being treated on the neck, back, and shoulders

The burns were not bad and there were no blisters. Actually this morning(two days after the fact) they are practically gone, so i think there nothing to worry about. I expect by tommorow they will all be gone. There was just alot of thin red burns, like pencil strokes. I was just curious if there was a simple explaination.

As for the duration inbetween treatments, its been 5 weeks so far, and he says this time inbetween the 4th and 5th he wanted to wait 7 weeks.

[ October 26, 2003, 07:18 AM: Message edited by: Jkr ]

The way you describe your burns sounds a lot like burns I heard someone describe that they got from a treatment at NUVO International, on another Forum. His were pretty bad from the sound of it. I have also heard someone else talk about being burnt from this machine. In fact my own doctor told me once, while he was treating me, that if he didn’t do a certain proceedure correctly a bad thing could happen (I can’t believe I paid so little attention to what he was saying that I can’t be more specific). I almost feel like calling him to find out what he was talking about so you can mention it to your doctor. I would be a little concerned if I were you, as you should not be getting any burns from proper use of this machine. I’ll try talking to my doctor this week and see what I can find out.

Well thank you, if you dont find out anything, i will definitly tell the doctor about what happened (he always asks anyways).

My standard treatment settinggs are 20RF 28J Optical. with no problems. 30% reduction on my lower arms (never treated before) 50% reduction (of the remaining hair) on my chest, back and upper arms.

RJC2001

Jkr,

It sounds like the practitioner doing your procedure did not have the area moist enough. Your first treatment should be the most painful and each subsequent treatment should be more and more tolerable (unless settings are drastically changed). The little red marks you mentioned are probably rail marks caused by arcing. This comes from bad coupling, whether from too little moisture (gel or water) or from bad placement. When you have bad coupling, the RF energy does not penetrate into the skin, but burns the epidermal layer. The result usually does not last long and is similar to a curling iron burn. It definately hurts, though and is probably why you experienced considerable pain. If used properly, the Aurora is the least painful light-based procedure I have seen. Hope this helps.

Jkr, I just had my third treatment today on my beard. I asked about your burns, and was told exactly what Gabriel posted. My doctor uses a conducting gel instead of water. What does your practitioner use?

was using gel, i supose he didnt put enough on, i will try and bring it up without sounding arrogant.

thanks everyone

JKR: Were you on any antibiotics when you receive this treatment, or had you been out in the sun? Photosensitivity is always an issue with these type of treatments, so if you were on any meds, check for this side effect. If this was the case, then you must check with your MD regarding discontinuing that med for treatment. Also, if the overlap of the tx window is too great ( a problem with IPL) then the area could be overtreated, causing the pencil-like lines. Hope this helps… :stuck_out_tongue:

Hairfetish, FYI…The pencil like marks are caused from the RF rails not having full contact with the skin, and have nothing to do with the IPL. They usually go away after a few days and can be avoided with good technique and the proper application of conductive water or gel.