Diode vs Nd:YAG

So being of North Indian decent I believe that I am a skin type IV. I was thinking of having my chest done which is a little paler so my first question is that could my skin be a type III? I went to a dermatologist a little bit ago and he said that diode would be the best option for me, he didn’t have his own laser removal service but had a med spa outside his office he recommended. However from what I’ve been reading on the forums is that Nd:Yag would be good for the darker skin tones. I know Alex would be best but right now I have found a deal where I can get either light sheer or the Cuetra Nd:Yag for really cheap and was wondering which would be the better machine? Thanks for the help in advance.

Either is good, you’re probably too dark for an alex. The Yag is very good but only on very dark coarse hair. So if you have a mix of coarse and fine hair, the yag will only kill the very dark ones. The diode is a bit more flexible, can get more hair types but can be harder to use if it’s a LightSheer.

With your ethnic background, you’re likely at LEAST a type IV. You’re definitely not a III.

Diode is fine for your skin type, if you keep the area untanned. However, it’s harder to use than a Yag. So it’d need to be someone who knows how to use that diode well. Being a doctor doesn’t make you good at hair removal.

You should be doing consultations at 3-4 places and asking for settings. Then you can decide based on their skill, not just on price. Cheap ineffective treatments are a waste of money.

Well the place with the Yag says she has 7 years of experience and will tell me within consultation if it’s better to use ipl or yag. Should I just tell her I want to use the yag either way? Also what kind of settings would you think should be the minimum using a Yag?

It’s never better to use IPL. If she wants to use IPL on you then go somewhere else.

And just a side question is there a difference between coarse hair and thick hair?? I’m just not sure because usually thick hair is coarse

There would be. Coarse hair is how thick the actual hair itself is, so like pubic hair. Thick hair would mean just a lot of hair. You could have a lot of very fine hair which would be considered thick.

When we’re talking about coarse, we mean hair that leaves a shadow when shaved. “Thick” is a difficult word because some people use it to mean “coarse” and others use it to mean “dense”. Density is irrelevant to hair removal. Hair needs to be coarse.