Had first session with this machine on my bikini area. Type II/III skin type. Settings were 10j with a 15mm spot. Think pulse rate was 3 or 10. Supposed to go back in 4 weeks for a touchup. What is your opinion of these settings?
Pulse width and spot size are good, but the joules are extremely low, especially for your skin type. You shouldn’t also have to go back for another treatment for about 6-8 weeks.
Thsi is both an alex and a Yag. Which did they use? I assume it’s an alex given your skin type. In that case, the joules setting is low.
They used the Alexandrite. What settings do you recommend? How is the shedding going to be with the 10j setting?
With you being a skin type II/III, you should be able to handle in the 20s for joules (generally from what I have read around here, 20J and greater is recommended for Apogee Elite.) Even if it sheds, that doesn’t mean it was successful, so you can’t base success on shedding alone.
Even if the hair sheds, those settings aren’t high enough to produce permanent damage to the follicles.
They need to test your skin to see how high you can go without getting burned and use those settings. On 15mm spot size for your skin type, the number should be closer to 20J or around there.
That’s what I was wondering. Thank you for the help. This electrologist/laser tech is very well established. Has been doing this themself for over 13 years, has thousands of clients, and two offices. In fact, one of the very first few licensed. Just thought 10 seemed real low but went along with it because they are the expert.
Do you think I should go back in 4 weeks or give it more time?
If it was me, I would wait 6-8 weeks between appointments. I think that is the general consensus among the majority of body areas.
I would wait 3 weeks and see whether anything sheds. If little sheds, I’d ask for a free touchup at that point, at higher settings.
She told me to come back in 4 weeks for a free touchup. Is she not expecting all to shed at that setting?
You would have to ask her.
Just an update on progress: shedding started to occur on day 7. Noticeably more on day 9.
Touchup settings: 11j @ 20 with 1.5 refresh rate on a 15mm spot. All appeared to shed after the first treatment with the exception of the missed spots that were touched up here.
Those are very low settings still. For your skin type, they should be closer to 20J
I agree. Posting updates like this to get opinions from knowledgeable people like you, and hoping my experiences educate others. I am trying to get them to be more aggressive. Unfortuneately this is the only place within 2 hours that treats males. This was a free touchup. Going back in 10 weeks for treatment two. Hopefully I can get them to be much more aggressive.
I appreciate all of the feedback. Please continue to do so.
Ask them to do test spots so they can feel confident they don’t burn you.