Choosing Between two good clinics, IPL or Laser

Hey there I’m a 20 something male currently serving active duty in the armed forces in korea. I am looking to get a serious portion of my entire facial hair removed with laser/IPL treatments before finishing up the fine hairs with electro in the states.

Korea has the benefit of having a lot of clinics for this, where the price is very cheap, and they do not do packages, but instead on as as needed basis. My skin is either a 1 or 1.5ish on the pigment scale, and I have dark facial hair. Unfortunately there is little regulation, but I have narrowed it down to two quality clinics, unfortunately:

The one I like best only does IPL, but the other clinic is still fine, but slightly less good and does laser.

the IPL guy has multiple degrees from the states, london, and korea, and is a practicing dermatologist with plenty of experience with hair removal. He does not charge a consultation fee and his office and staff are amazing. The clinic is sort of small and very personal, and after I had some breakout from my first session with him, he had me come in and gave me some prescription antibiotic acne cream plus an injection for inflamation. Also before my first treatment, he included free numbing cream. (im a sensitive kinda guy. read: wimpy)

He uses the ellipse IP2L from denmark, which I cant find a lot of literature on, other than what I believe to be a couple abstracts on a UK site.

The other clinic I can only describe as being more mill like. They have numbers on the counter and you get called in for your mini consultation, which costs about 18 USD converted from KRW. The doctor has many many more patients to treat for various things, but he always does the laser treatments himself. You have to pay the consultation fee every time you go in for a laser treatment. He does not provide anything for free including any topical stuff.

His machine is a combination laser with an alexandrite and I believe a YAG.

I haven’t really seen a ton of research to back up IPL, so its harder for me to choose the IPL clinic even though I consider him superior.

Also after how much time should I wait after that initial treatment to my face to go back to either clinic? It has not been very long with IPL, how long should I expect to wait before hairs begin to fall out? Do hairs fall out after one session of IPL? I was dumb and did not do a test patch. Was just excited to start.

Any help would be awesome!

Honestly if I dont see shedding I’m not gonna go back to either and wait till im back in new york and go to satori, but everything is so damn cheap here!

Considering the average depth of established male facial hair, I would not expect IPL to be of much benefit. Laser has far more energy to deliver to the depths of the hair follicles, much more effectively. Generally, you can expect shedding two to three days after laser treatment at the earliest or six to seven days at the longest. I have no idea regarding IPL.

For deep hair, a Yag would be a better fit.

so this has pushed me in the direction of the laser clinic, any tips for the settings for a male beard? also since I have to shave regularly will this inhibit fallout in someway?

You should go in and ask for settings that they would use, then post here for feedback. They can see your skin and we can’t. We can advise on whether it’s in the right range.