i have been getting the laser hair removal for over 5 years; and i still have hair.
the first doctor used candella gentlLase on me for almost 4 years with no success;
then the second doctor used candella gent Yag and gentlLase alternatively for over a year and still i have hair all over my face. the whole chin and cheecks area.
now they are not as coarse anymore; but they are there. u can see them and feel them.
last week i went to the third doctor and she used sciton clearscan laser. surprisingly it didn’t hurt at all; and there was no downtime. no redness or tenderness. it’s been 6 days and the hairs are not shedding; still intact and hurts to pull them. so i think the treatment didn’t work at all. also that was the most expensive session so far ($371). i am not sure what to do anymore. i want to ask her for a do over; or my money back.
at the same time; i am wondering if i should give it a try.
any advice or feedback?
i am faired skin, although from the middle east. my hair started coarse; but now its fine but not too light.
thanks much
If you’re fair skinned and have dark coarse hair, then there’s no reason the laser shouldn’t work on you especially the GentleLASE. The only thing I could think of is if the settings were too low. Did the hair full shed and did your treatments really hurt?
It all comes down to the type of hair and settings. The differences you describe are contributed to settings being used if the hair is very coarse. If it’s not that coarse, then an alex would be better (still at good settings).
You don’t mention settings used on the Yag compared to settings used on the alex.
when gentlelase and gentleyag were used on me; the doctor told me he used the highest setting in the machine.
and yes it used to hurt a lot after a treatment; and my skin used to be red for few days; also after the treatment i smelled the burned hair and the hair shed after few days.
i dont know the setting for the new machine; sciton clearscan. although i assume it was very low; because i didn’t feel it at all. the hair is still intact and didn’t smell any burning.
i called a new office today; and they have the Ellipse IPL machine; i am not familiar with this; do you think this will work?
thanks
There is no such thing as “highest settings”. There are 3 factors that are being adjusted to create “settings”. So one factor can be high, another low or average etc. It’s impossible to know without exact numbers.
It’s also impossible to compare your treatments without knowing specific numbers of the settings used.
And once again, no, neither laser or IPL works on fine hair.
So I have some promising/exciting updates. It’s been 8 days now since my yag treatment. Previously on my face with the alex, I’d get good shedding but in two spots right on the tip of my chin, the hair absolutely would not shed at all. Even going back 2 weeks after for a touchup treatment really did nothing. So I’d have a smooth face and then these 2 patches the size of dimes or so on my chin that refused to go. It seems like the yag definitely does go deeper from what I can see so far. I’ve been shaving daily due to work and so on, so I haven’t been able to let the hair just fall out on it’s own. This morning I took my good tweezers and on the tiny bit sticking out since yesterday, tried to remove a couple hairs from various places on my face. On my cheeks and so on the hair slid out effortlessly as expected, or rather as it did with the alex. However, on those two spots that would not shed before, I tried the odd hair there and to my surprise they actually came out! Some were still firm, and the ones that did had resistance but it’s still a bit early. Either way though after I was treated there with the alex and would wait 3+ weeks and try the same thing with tweezers, they would not budge and it would hurt. So I know that I’m not “plucking” them out or anything, they actually are treated. So this seems promissing so far.
On my abdomen where she did an inch or so on my pubic line with the yag before switching to alex, the hair is very long again and I thought would have zero results but some hairs are falling out there now as well. Everywhere else I was treated with the alex though the hairs just slide right out. I’ll keep everyone posted but so far so good.
Side question, assuming I get great results on my face with the yag, what determines (aside from operator ability) how good a yag is? Like are they all pretty much the same? I assume not since alexandrite on gentlelase and apogee are different in their pulse width and so on. Only asking because there’s lots of places that use yag, but I’ve always basically discredited them for doing so. Not that I’d want to switch clinics, I love mine, but only asking because some places do specials like 50% off your first treatment or whatever so could try a few places 
I would be cautious about continuing to dish out $ for laser treatment. I did it twice. It’s expensive and all the hair came back within a year +. I too am fair skinned with dark hair–a “perfect candidate” as I was told. 
You should read our FAQs asap. Laser works great. It just has to be done correctly and on the right type of hair. There is a reason you didn’t get results. If you post details, we can help you figure out what it was. Most common reasons are treating the type of hair that laser can’t affect, treating with the wrong machine, or treating at wrong settings.
From your post on the electrolysis forum, it sounds like you were treating fine facial hair, which shouldn’t have been treated in the first place. Just because a clinic who wants your money tells you you’re a “perfect candidate”, doesn’t mean you are.
Any feedback from anyone on my second question from my previous post though?
It’s the same thing as comparing different models of alex lasers. You look at spot size, joules, and pulse width settings on the Yag and if they’re equivalent to another Yag’s, you’re getting a similar treatment.
I’m surprised the results on my face from it, all the hair is shedding! For the past 3 months I’ve looked weird since the alex caused all the hair to shed except 2 big chunks on my chin. No matter how close I’d shave, you’d still see the 2 dark spots on my chin but for the first time in 4 treatments, the hair there all fell out from the yag!
LAGirl you said Yag can be better than alex if the person is good at using it? I always thought alex would be the best then diode then yag then IPL if you wanted to consider that. Is yag better than diode?
Alex is a better machine, overall, on hair it can reach, which is the majority of hair. However, the two spots you’re talking about are hard to treat because the hair is so deep. Yag penetrates the deepest, so in this case, it’s helpful in your case to treat with a Yag because alex couldn’t reach those spots. If that hair wasn’t as coarse, it wouldn’t work either.
Basically, on whatever alex can reach, alex is better. But if it can’t reach it in the first place, then anything else that can would be better. That’s where 1064nm helps you vs 755nm on an alex and 610nm on the diode.
Ohh okay I didn’t even realize that the nm meant how deep it was. So diode is deeper than alex as well? I’m definitely going to stick to alex, just debating what to do on my face, if I should continue to yag everywhere, or ask she just uses the yag on my chin.
On a side note here’s a different question. I know that alex treats finer hairs better, and I know that laser can’t treat fine hairs period. If the hair is too fine, would it just not shed? Reason I ask is because I have a mix of hair types of course, but after a laser session, I pretty much get 100% shedding (aside from REALLY fine hair like peach fuzz). So my question is, if a hair sheds, does that mean it’s not too fine to be treated? I’m assuming that would be the case, since it would only shed if it was hit by the laser no?
It can shed and still not die, shedding is just an indication.
LAgirl, you wrote that diode is 610nm, i think it was a typo cause diode is ~810nm.
Odi> When you say shed and not die, do you mean just in general (as in even the darkest, coarsest hair can shed but not die if the settings are too low)? Or do you mean that all hair could shed but only the coarse hair dies but the fine sheds and doesn’t? Only reason I ask is because I’m just wondering how well an indication shedding is as to the effectiveness to fine hair. Because right now, I pretty much get 100% shedding on all the areas treated, aside from REALLY fine hair like peach fuzz.
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Thanks odi. That was a typo! 810nm on a diode.
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edokid, I think you are fine to stick with the Yag for the face. It will take quite a few treatments for any hair there to get too fine for the Yag.
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Yes, the hair can attract enough heat from the laser to shed, but not enough heat to damage the follicle permanently.
Thanks LAGirl, not too concerned with face was wondering more in general. Sorry if I’m not being clear in my question, I know that hair can attract enough heat to shed but not enough to damage it permanently. What I meant though is that I know that’s the general statement for all hair types but using an alex on my arms for example, I get 100% shedding. What I’m asking is even fine hairs shed, so assuming that the settings are high enough to damage dark coarse hair permanently, if fine hairs shed as well would that be a good indication that they were treated as well? Or are you saying that if they’re too fine that even though coarse hair absorbs enough heat to shed, fine hair is too small and may only absorb enough to damage it but not permanently? I’m only asking because on my forearms for example, it’s definitely a mix of hair, like on my hands the hair is finer, yet I get full shedding on those hairs the same as if it was a really dark coarse hair. So I’m just wondering if assuming the settings are high enough, if that would be a good sign for those hairs.
How much heat the hair absorbs depends on how coarse it is. So fine hair usually doesn’t absorb enough heat to damage it permanently, only enough to make it shed.