Hi all,
My almost 17-year old daughter will have her first consultation for laser treatment on Sat. She is half Hispanic/Black and is maybe Type V with very black coarse hair. She is considering treatment on stomach and full legs. The clinic uses Cutera (Coolguide) laser. I will print the list of questions that LAgirl put together but is there anything else I need to know? How can I make my daughter more comfortable?
I wouldn’t get a treatment during the consultation, but I would ask for a test spot. Also, ask what settings they will use and post them here so we can help you decide if they’re aggressive enough.
This is a good laser for her skin type.
Is the hair on her stomach coarse as well?
Make sure your daughter understands that it will be painful, but that the pain doesn’t last. It only hurts while the laser is being fired. Icing helps and numbing creams are available if she really can’t handle it.
Buy some clear pure aloe vera gel and cool it in the fridge. It’s great for aftercare. Also, taking a painkiller beforehand helps with the pain.
It should hurt if the settings are good.
Hi Imokay - another laser to consider is the Soprano XL - Very safe for skin that is Hispanic/ black and comfortable. Iam an RN with 6 years of experience with LHR and I like the idea about having your daughter tested 1st. When I treat skin like your daughters I use no numbeing and want to know what the person is feeling. I have discovered if there is significant pain then usually there is going to be trouble. Two questions I would ask is when was the machine made and how long has the RN/ doctor used it and how often. A clinician that has logged hundreds of hours is miles ahead of someone that went to a weekend course and has logged in 2 months. Hope all goes well.
You can’t really go by pain, you have to go by how the skin reacts immediately after, and several hours after as well. As said many times, you can’t let pain be what changes the settings on the machine, it’s supposed to hurt, no matter what anyone says, otherwise it won’t produce results. A yag you definitely should feel, if not it’s too weak. You’re trying to permanently change something on your body, you can’t expect to do that and feel no pain. I find yag hurts more than alex by a bit. With very black coarse hair she’ll definitely feel it more as well as the coarser the hair the more pain you feel. As LAGirl mentioned though, the thing with the pain is you only feel it for that split second that the laser fires which is why “pain” with laser really isn’t as bad as it sounds. It’s not like they’re going to fire 20 shots, and then 5 minutes later you’re still in pain. You feel it snap when it fires, but as soon as they stop you feel nothing. Try to find out the settings they’re going to use as well so you can post back here and LAGirl can tell you if they’re too low or what not. The thing you have to watch is they usually will start low since they don’t want to burn you and they don’t want to scare you off. Even at my first clinic, when I went for my very first session there the first few shots they fired I barely felt it, I think it was something like 18 joules on apogee elite 15mm. I told her to up it so she went to 21 or something like that which I definitely felt a lot more, but she kept asking if I’m sure. I told her I feel it but can handle more, and after talking more she went up to 25 but really didn’t want to. That definitely hurt but not unbearable. I had 100% shedding and amazing results. No burning or skin irritation (aside from maybe 30 minutes after the session). So my point with all that is, had I just gone in uneducated and let her do her thing, I’d have haid a “painless” treatment at 18j. Would I have gotten results? Not sure, but the point is 18J to 25J is a big jump and I really don’t think I’d have as good results had we stayed at 18j.
Just one more thing to add too. None of us are saying no pain no gain (well sort of). What we’re saying is that pain shouldn’t have anything to do with laser treatment. If it’s excruciating, use numbing cream or bite your lip. The point is that if you have to tell them it hurts and to turn the settings down, then you’re basically just wasting your money. It’s like going for liposuction and saying you don’t want it to hurt. This is a cosmetic procedure, don’t forget that!
Sorry to burst your bubble edokid but there is a safe, painless alternative for liposuction which is called Zerona. You can check my website if you want to hear more. Did i mention no pain?
Zerona is neat-o, but it’s not specifically an “alternative to liposuction”. For one, it only empties the fat cells (the way exercise does), it does NOT remove the fat cells. So of course the weight can come back quite easily(with lipo it usually doesn’t return in the area treated). Also, Zerona’s results are more modest (but less risky) than lipo. Zerona can also improve skin quality and most lipo doesn’t.
On the review boards for plastic surgery procedures (literally thousands of consumer ratings), the majority of consumers said they did NOT feel the Zerona gave them satisfactory results. Most people felt ripped off because the “Lose 3-10 inches” promise is not just for the area treated, but adds up a dozen areas all over your body, so you may only lose a quarter of an inch or less in any one spot. Not worth it for the huge price. Conversely, the vast majority of consumers were extremely pleased with lipo results, even with the potential for it to go so wrong.
I think that until the Zerona is cheaper and more accessible, it can’t be an alternative to lipo, which is only slightly more expensive, but has a better history of results despite being riskier. I have not tried either procedure, I’m just relaying the meta-data from other consumers. I can’t wait for Zerona to be cheaper, because I suspect it would work much better if people could invest yearly treatments. 
This is getting out of hand, it’s a hair removal thread.
But it is an alternative for liposuction with ups and downs and we will leave it like that.
Odi, I’ve read about Zerona when my friend was interested in it, and on realself.com it got terrible reviews. If you’ve never been there, it’s a site where people review and comment on cosmetic procedures. Only 25% of people actually recommend it, almost everyone on there says it doesn’t work and is a waste of money (http://www.realself.com/Zerona/reviews). To compare, 69% recommend laser hair removal, and 84% recommend laser vision correction. So I don’t think you can really compare Zerona to real liposuction. Off topic but just saying since I know you promote your own machines.
Also just to add to that, she said she was going for treatment with a Yag, which should hurt if it’s working, that’s why I compare it to liposuction as a cosmetic procedure. She didn’t say she was going for Soprano XL. If she did then I wouldn’t have posted anything on pain since based on your posts the Soprano should be pain free. I was trying to help her should she go for the Yag as she originally said is all.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to be off-topic. I just thought emptying fat cells versus removing them completely is a pretty major difference of procedure.
Odi, you know I respect you. I was simply responding to the point you brought up. I would still like to try Zerona personally, and you know that. 
judym loves to promote the only machine she uses. Unfortunately, it’s a diode and is not the BEST option for type V skin because settings that would have to be used to avoid burns won’t produce permanent results.
Thank you all for the suggestions and questions to ask. I know it is only a consultation but they’re pushing a Mother’s Day special but now I understand that I should wait to see how she responds to the test patch before I sign up for a package. LAgirl you asked about her stomach-yes the hair there is also coarse and she plucked so I think they got coarser. I will post tomorrow about the settings.
LA Girl - I don’t only use a Soprano XL, I also have an aesthera PPX - photofacial machine I use for fine hair and occasionaly use a yag for shaping in small tight areas - why all the hostility?
Question: Is my daughter suppose to shave before the consultation? I read that you should shave 24-48 hours before. My daughter has not shaved her legs for a few weeks so the hair is long but not super long. I don’t want her to go and be more uncomfortable about her hair than she needs to be.
If it’s just a consultation it doesn’t matter. She may want to not shave so the tech can evaluate the hair and see what needs to be done. The tech will shave an area to do a test patch on. When she actually goes for treatments though it’s best to shave before, saves time. Doesn’t have to be 24-48 hours before, the closer the shave the better. I always shave like an hour before I go. You want the laser energy to be concentrated on hair below the surface and into the root, the more there is above the skin, the more energy is wasted. Don’t be uncomfortable about not shaving and going to a clinic, that’s what their job is.
Thank you so much edokid for your response! We will be leaving in about 1 hour and I was concerned that I was already doing something wrong.
imokay: I agree that shaving right before the treatment is best, but if they start missing certain patches, then maybe leave a days worth of growth so they can see where the hair is.
How did the appointment go?
Usually a shaving a day before is best cause sometimes shaving can cause redness or some other reaction so if you wait a day, it will calm down by the appointment.
Ok… so we went to the consultation. Everyone was very kind and friendly. Our staff person showed us a Coolguide video and photos and answered all my questions. The lady said my daughter is not dark but more tan in color and she would have very good results with their machine. The gal actually doing the treatments is an RN and has about 15 years of experience in the field. We agreed on tx for full legs, bikini, and happy trail or whatever you call it. And then…I signed a contract! I went in there only wanting a test patch and info but instead I signed! I feel okay about it though, I guess I better be okay with it at this point. They treated my daughter’s tummy with 46 joules. I asked about the size of the treatment area and I expected something in mm but she told me about 1 inch instead. Did ask the wrong questions? We had to wait a bit for treatment and that was the only downside b/c my daughter was getting tired/cranky whatever teenagers do. But I think she was happy with the treatment b/c I was. Most if not all of the hair was gone. Since my daughter is kind of on the shy/reserved side I did not want to analyze the area and make her uncomfortable but I am happy with the results. So what do you all think? Oh, and Happy Mother’s Day for all you mommy’s out there.
You’re a great mom for being so concerned with your daughter’s struggle with hair. I looked it up and an inch is 25 millimeters. I dunno if that really is the spot size this machine uses but that’s pretty big (which is a good thing actually). The machine I get treated by offers 15mm and 18mm sizes. I bet LAgirl would know.
I hope you didn’t buy a full package. Even if you decide to proceed, you should always buy a stand alone treatment before the package, just in case the techs do a really shoddy job (by the time you realize the hair isn’t shedding well, it may be too late to back out). Hopefully you’ll have no issues though. 
Weird that they would use inches. I mean milimetres is metric so inches would be more American, but it just seems weird because 15 or 18mm work out to odd measurements in inches. Even manufacturer websites use mm so not sure! Glad things went well. Contracts are bad though, would have been good to wait and see the results of the test patch. You mentioned all the hair is gone, it shouldn’t be gone anywhere. The hair will look like it’s continuing to grow for 7-10 days and then will start to shed out. Thats when you’re in the hair free period. Keep us posted on the results!