First Test With Laser

Hello everyone on the forum,

Today I went for a test patch for laser hair removal on my face.
I did a litle research about the subject beforehand, although looking at some posts on here, maybe i should have done considerably more before making an appointment.

The clinic I chose is a private hospital in my city. I’m not totally sure which laser i had the test with, they have three types of unit there apparently. the clinic is here http://www.lasercare-clinics.co.uk (the particular clinic is the one in Sheffield)

The experience was good and everything was explained in detail, but I would love some real life advice from experienced consumers!

The nurse did three test patches and altered the settings on the machine for each patch. During the treatment there was a strong smell of hair burning,and a sharp burning sensation at the treatment area, and after she put some gel/lotion on the area.

Straight after the treatment the areas were red and sore and akin to a feeling of bad sunburn.
After 2 hours the areas have stopped feeling sore, but the area that was treated first is still quite uncomfortable, the second less so and the third area is totally painless.

I gather from this that She may have reduced power on the laser through the three stages as to ascertain results? Is this feasable and/or common practice ?

Reading some of the posts from people who have had bad experiences with laser treatment i’am concerned about progressing with treatment down this route. Most of the problems seem to arise from poor operators and training etc. Is this also true?

I chose this particular clinic due to it being an NHS medical facility offering private care, and not a private company providing cosmetic procedures.

Any information anyone can offer at all would be very much appreciated, and any information about the clinic concerned as well.
Im going to evaluate the test area for a week or so then decide whether to progress into treatment or consider electrolysis.

Incidentally my hair is dark and i have pale skin.

Many thanx xxxxxxx Andi

Thanks for a great report, Andi! Some of the laser places in the UK are a bit dodgy, so if you feel they have qualified practitioners and a doctor involved, you should be OK. If possible, you may wish to speak with some others who have been treated, especially for facial hair as heavy as yours.

Since you’re light skinned and dark haired, a good practitioner using the right settings should be able to give you a good head start on electrolysis, but you will probably need to set a hard limit of how many sessions you’ll do before switching. I know several women in transition who had a course of laser and still required 200 or more hours of electrolysis. In other cases, laser was much more effective.

Best of luck whatever you decide, and please keep us posted on your progress.