BE Very Careful Before throwing your $$$ away

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hi, I’m from Sydney, Australia.

Towards the end of last year (summer in Aust), I spent about $1,500 on IPL hair removal from a “certified” physician who is qualified in the area of hair removal and spider vein removal. After the consultation, she said I was a good candidate for hair removal using IPL (she said my fair skin and dark hair are a good combo).

On the day of the treatment however, she wasn’t the one treating me. I didn’t know until I arrived. Being my first time doing IPL, I thought ok, I’m sure her assistant knows what she’s doing. The pain wasn’t like a rubber band flicking at you, sometimes it was, most of the time it hurt!
But for the sake of vanity I said to myself that the pain was worth it, so I laid there looking at the ceiling while she zapped away at my leg hair.

There were a few areas on my back where she concentrated on over and over again. Which left my skin red and looked like a severe sunburn. She reassured me that it will go away soon.
After she finished, she realised some of the hair was still there so she used her fingers to manually “yank” them out!
SO I’m also paying for a wax job…

Afterwards, I was thinking that after I recover from the redness I can bare my smooth hair free legs in public.
But 1 month passed and the hair grew back with no noticeable difference (it would’ve been more cost effective if I went to salon for a wax) and the burn marks were STILL THERE.
The red burn mark on my back near my shoulder didn’t recover like she said it would.

And now, its been 7 months since I had the IPL. I still can’t bare my legs because some of the burn marks are still there. I was too afraid to even tell my boyfriend about it, resorting to wearing black stockings to cover up.
The burn on my back had faded a lil but it now looks redish pink. Like someone burned a chunk of my skin off.
There were nights I sat there depressed thinking I’m going to stuck with the marks for a long long time.
Now I put on lightening creams everynight and it has helped fade the marks.

Overall, ladies, please research thoroughly before going to anyone for treatment. Its expensive and the wrong person doing the job can mean a WORLD of difference. Make sure its a physician not their assistant or other staff. Make sure you make them write out the costs and sign it before you commit to treatment (mine one increased the costs the day I had treatment). Ask how experienced are they and how many clients they’ve dealt with and what are the potential side effects and risks and if it happens what will she/he do to reimburst you.
Lastly, ask for recent clients whom you can contact to ask for results! I hope my story can prevent others from having a horrible experience with IPL or other lasers for hair removal.

Regards,
ZZ.

#2

Although i am a guy, i was planning to start the procedure for a small portion of my body. But now i am afraid. Seconds thoughts…

regards
sohiab.

#3

IPLs are not lasers. A lot of people who have tried IPLs and have not seen results, do see results from real lasers like an alexadrite or diode types. Personally, from reading many IPL experiences, I would advise to stay away from them. They are also cheaper machines that do a bunch of other procedures, hair removal is more of an afterthought, so there are many techs out there performing hair removal with them that don’t know much about hair removal and probably cause a lot of the negative results. Best thing to do for best results is find a place with a reputable actual laser and make sure the tech is trained specifically in hair removal.

#4

IPLs are not lasers. A lot of people who have tried IPLs and have not seen results, do see results from real lasers like an alexadrite or diode types. Personally, from reading many IPL experiences, I would advise to stay away from them. They are also cheaper machines that do a bunch of other procedures, hair removal is more of an afterthought, so there are many techs out there performing hair removal with them that don’t know much about hair removal and probably cause a lot of the negative results. Best thing to do for best results is find a place with a reputable actual laser and make sure the tech is trained specifically in hair removal.

This is definitely true. My practitioner told me that more and more dermatologists are going toward the use of IPL. That is not good news for those seeking permanent hair reduction. I would suppose they are going to IPL because, like you said they are multi-platform devices. A single machine can be used for skin rejuvenation, acne treatment, wart removal, and maybe even hair removal. Who knows, maybe the IPL machines are cheaper.

To further complicate matters, there have been magazine articles saying that IPL is better than laser, that it is faster and more effective.

RJC2001

#5

IPL machines are cheaper. They are cheaper to make etc. And the reason there are a lot of articles on them being so great is due to a lot of very good marketing they put into it. That’s why a lot of salons use it as well. They hard sell to them specifically and they in turn hard-sell the consumers. I recommend to stay away from them and go with a real laser for best results.

#6

To further complicate matters, there have been magazine articles saying that IPL is better than laser, that it is faster and more effective.

You mean Magazines print lies to get the public fooled into doing the wrong thing sometimes, when a little research could show that the emperor has no clothes? Maybe we should tell Oprah, oh, yeah, she has one of those lying magazines… Never mind.