Thanks edokid for the website, I’ve learned a lot more about the coolguide from exploring the website. They have some research papers and web-seminars that were very interesting. My daughter has her treatment on the other leg today so I hope we can go higher on the power. Also, there has been shedding on the tummy-yay.
imokay - that’s great! remembering that shedding isn’t necessarily an indication that the follicles have been destroyed for good. since it’s just a test patch, perhaps wait a few months to ensure it has had some permanent effect - if you can wait that long.
Definitely. I know you also bought a package but in future you may want to check around at other Yag lasers as well like the Apogee Elite Yag or GentleYAG. I didn’t re-read this thread to see if you did but only reason I say that is because a 10mm spot size is really really really small! GentleYAG has 18mm, and Apogee does 15mm so would make those treatments a lot faster!
Edokid: I wish I had known about the spot size issue before b/c yesterday’s treatment on right leg was over 1 1/2 hours!!! When I started this and “researched”-mostly be reading posts on this site, I was mostly concerned about picking the right laser for skin color and success and I didn’t think about spot size and treatment for such a large area. I know my daughter is happy that she is getting LHR but an 18 mm spot size would have made it so much easier for her, and I want this to be a positive and successful experience for her. Thanks for educating me.
Yesterday’s treatment was with a different tech. She was nice but was mistaken about which leg got treated last week. She said that the leg was looking good and it was actually the leg that was not treated! She nearly started working on the wrong leg when my daughter stopped her! So bad start I know. Oh, even before that she wanted to treat the stomach first and I said that I wanted to wait, she asked why and I told her that there was little hair growth. She said they always/usually treat every 3 weeks. I told her that even the Coolguide web site suggests treatment every 4-6 weeks or when there is sufficient hair to treat. She was nice but said that they have very good results treating every 3 weeks. I again said I wanted to wait. She said she would have to speak to her manager. She proceeded to treat the leg and when I asked about increasing the power she said that she needed to use 46 joules since the other leg was treated at that level and something about it looking weird/different from the other leg if the setting were increased. Like I mentioned before, everyone in this clinic speaks Chinese(?) as their first language so sometimes their accent and sentence structure confuses me. Anyway, this tech was nice and when she treated my daughter on those sensitive areas like her ankles she was sweet and made comments to help my daughter better tolerate the pain (the other tech was pretty quiet). After 45 minutes or 1 hour the Manager came in (she is the one who sold me the package) and commented about how long the treatment was taking she then spoke in Chinese with the tech. The manager then talked to me about the stomach treatment, she again said that their clinic treats every 3 weeks with great results again I said I wanted to wait for more hair growth. She did not seem thrilled but agreed. After the treatment when we were leaving the Manager did not give me a return appointment and she said since I wanted to wait she would wait for us to call. She said this in a professional but somewhat irritated or put off way. She again mentioned that they have great results with treatment every three weeks. She said that she had over 70% reduction after her first treatment and that she noticed that my daughter’s hair grows faster than most and therefore would benefit from treatment at 3 weeks. I responded in a friendly manner and said that there was still not enough hair growth and I also mentioned how the tech confused which leg had received treatment last week so sometimes it is best to wait longer. She said it was my decision in her professional but put off voice. Later I remembered that she told me that she had upper lip and underarms treated but I doubt she had 70% reduction after 1 treatment on either area…but maybe she did…she is Chinese and seems to have very little hair anyway.
Sorry for the long post but needed to unload a bit. Thanks for reading.
Glad things seem to be going somewhat okay! I’m surprised the CoolGlide is only 10mm it seems very small.
This is the problem with buying packages. You don’t need treatments every 3 weeks, especially on legs. Legs can even go up to 12 weeks or so. The thing to keep in mind is that no matter what anyone tells you, your body will tell you when you need another treatment. Meaning:
- You go for a treatment
- After a couple weeks the hair all sheds out and you’re hair free
- After several weeks, the hair starts to grow back in the next phase
- When the next phase of hair has all grown in, THEN it’s time for another treatment.
The problem with 3 weeks is that generally that’s the time you should be almost finished shedding all hair and starting the totally smooth hair free period, so at 3 weeks there should be absolutely no hair there to even treat. Even if they say 6 weeks or 8 weeks, you still need to make sure the hair is back to be treated. It’s like being waxed, you go and get waxed then you go back when the hair has come back and is long enough for the wax to pull it out again. You would’t go back 5 days later to get another wax job since you’d still be smooth.
Now having said that, there’s nothing wrong with going every 3 weeks, meaning it’s not going to give you negative effects. If there’s any hair that was missed at all, it would be caught on this second treatment. So if your package was sold as say “1 year of laser, as many treatments as it takes” which I HIGHLY doubt it was, then by all means go every 3 weeks! However I assume it was more like a 6 treatments prepaid type package. So that’s the issue, they want you to go every 3 weeks so that after your 6 treatments are over, you really only had technically 3 since the in between ones were worthless. That way they can sell you another package of 6 to finish the job.
I hope that makes sense!
I did buy the 6-treatment package so it makes perfect sense!
I had all my leg treatments at 12 weeks or more.
I use the method of waiting until there is enough hair to treat. If you monitor it everyday you will see that over a course of about 2-3 weeks a lot of hair is coming through and then seems to slow down - that’s when I go.
For example, right now I’m almost 8 weeks post Arm treatment #2.
I have some hairs on my arms and I could just say “wow I got a great reduction from that 2nd treatment and I can go in now for these hairs”.
But I know that in the next 3 weeks a lot of hairs will start coming through (based on the weeks before treatment #2). Once it looks like what’s coming through has stopped, I will go for treatment #3.
I think edokid has explained it very well as well.
My legs have all been 12 weeks apart per treatment (or more) as well. Shedding doesn’t even finish until week three for me, and then I’m hair free until week 10. I don’t go in until enough hair has grown back.
3 weeks on legs really is absurd, I think. Don’t let them “nicely” bully you into paying for treatments at three weeks apart, because if you have any hair visible at the three week mark, then it means it didn’t shed so they missed it the first time and it’s their fault.
Some claim that it is best to have a short period of time between first and 2nd sessions and then tell you to come after 3-4 weeks. I guess the idea is to catch as much as possible. I think that going from the beginning with the right intervals will be as good if not better.
Legs have some of the longest hair cycles. She shouldn’t have much to treat at 3 weeks. She should be easily able to wait 8-12 weeks. No point of treating hair that hasn’t developed yet. You shouldn’t be paying to retreat the same area, basically.
I’m a bit disappointed with the laser results thus far. It has been almost 4 weeks post for first leg and almost 3 weeks post for the other leg and there has been some shedding but not as much as I was expecting. She has some pepper spots which she has tried to remove with some success but still her legs are stubbly, reddish, and appear to have ingrown hairs. She had to shave her legs for an event and there was hair growth in an obvious pattern that suggests they missed the area. I guess I need to call about their touch-up policy but I don’t think they will be very helpful since they think my schedule is not the best approach. Is it possible that my daughter is still shedding? Was the power not strong enough and thus minimally effective? I feel like we should go in and treat again at a higher level but I don’t want to waste a treatment. My daughter’s hair does grow fast so does this mean we should go in now? I feel bad for my daughter because her legs are red and bumpy (folliculitis–I think it is called, right?) and I know it bothers her a great deal. I had read that laser helps a lot in resolving the folliculitis. Does anybody have any experience with laser and folliculitis?
The pepperspots are totally fine. Annoying as heck, but not an indication of a bad treatment. They will burn off next treatment probably.
The obvious pattern of growth sounds like a missed spot to me. Did they use a grid? I find that helps avoid missed spots. If the hair that is STILL GROWING (not stuck in the follicles, but actually getting longer) is more than 10%, I would try and get a touch up.
In my experience, laser lessens ingrowns/ folliculitis. But it’s only the first treatment. It may be a few before she sees a big diff. shrug
Is any of the hair actually actively growing as usual? Pepperspots are dead hairs. So those are totally fine. Legs tend to get them because the hair is finer. Is she shaving her legs? Not shaving helps hair fall out. Also, exfoliating does too. Is she scrubbing in the shower with a loofa?
What redness are you referring to? There shouldn’t be any of that…
LA Girl: My daughter says that a lot of the hair is actually growing as usual–the lower leg more than upper thigh. She is shaving her legs and I think this causes the bumps and redness (redness is not from the laser). She is very prone to ingrown hairs but she gets red and bumpy even where there are no ingrown hairs. She does use a loofah to scrub but I will remind her to do this more regularly.
The hair that is growing as usual after 3 weeks was either missed or not affected because of low settings.
I would try to avoid shaving for at least a 2 weeks next time, so she can judge this better. And exfoliating is important to help the hair shed.
Update;
2nd treatment: 48 joules; 20 p/w
Weeks between treatment: 5-6 weeks
7/3: lower legs and stomach
7/5: upper legs
It has now been almost 6 weeks since 2nd treatment and there seems to be enough hair “growth” for treatment. I know my daughter’s hair grows fast but I am disappointed again because I think that the power is not high enough. I want to use numbing cream next time so we can go higher on the power. What is the easiest and cheapest way for buying the cream? What else should I be doing?
I went through some previous posts about numbing cream and now I think that it is probably not a good idea since these are fairly large areas and I would be concerned about toxicity. And, after reading more posts about shedding, re-growth,waiting periods and etc., I’m feeling more concerned about our clinic and their recommendations. I will encourage my daughter to wait at least 4 weeks longer before we move forward. I’m not happy.
I have attached a clinic study link that is on the Cutera website. Based on what I read, I would like to recommend that the settings for the next session be changed to 50 joules at 15 p/w. Please comment and let me know what you think. Thanks so much for all of your help!!
http://www.cutera.com/content/docs/Hair%20Kilmer%203%20Month.pdf
5-6 weeks is very early for legs, which have very long cycles. She shouldn’t need treatments there more often than 10-12 weeks apart.
The settings aren’t too bad. Of course, higher is always better as long as they’re still safe on the skin.
Numbing cream is fine to use, including on legs. The issues that several people experienced was from improper compounding of the cream by the pharmacy. If you get a proper cream, there will be no issues, including on the legs and other large areas. All these creams are prescription only.