Gantlelase treatment so far, need advice

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

I posted before about my first experience on my treatment you can see it on the link below.

It has been almost 4 weeks since my first treatment. I am guessing the nurse either missed 30% of my hair or the setting was too low which didn’t cause enough damage to the hair to shed. It is so weird, when i spoke to the dr. he said my skin was light enough for a gentlelase an aggressive setting would be used. However the nurse used a very low setting 18mm 10j.

I called today to speak to the nurse and tell her that 30% of the hair didn’t shed, she said that i wasn’t going to see any results first treatment. i told her that i was concerned the setting used was to low and would like to come in so they can test the higher setting I can handle she said it would be necessary and she would increase to 18m 12j next time i come in. Everything I asked her she would give me an answer not related to my question. i am really sad and and frustrated. I bought a package and no there is no going back.

Not happy I contacted the dr. that first saw me and the owner, I am still waiting for him to get back to me. I explained what happened that 30% of my hair didn’t shed, and that I was worried because the setting used is really low.

It’s been almost 4 weeks. I can see that the areas that did shed, very fine hair is growing. I hope that is normal.

Please if anyone has any advice about this let me know, the clinic was referred by someone in here, and that the nurses were experience, however this nurse have only being doing this for one year.

#2

I also forgot to add that when I called to the nurse today, she said that she didn’t wanted to go higher, she wanted to increase gradually, becaseu I had a skin reaction on 18mm 10j. I did not feel much with the laser, and it wasn’t red after i left the clinic, however she repeated herself that it caused a medium reaction, so now i am a little more more worried, if the machine caused a reaction to my skin I am guessing i am not suitable for gentlelase. any opinions?

#3

See this PDF from Candela: GentleLase treatment guidelines

Maybe you should print that out and show it to the nurse. If you really are a type 2, then 14J is the minimum suggested treatment with 18mm spot size. Also those treatment guidelines are conservative. Realistically, with type I or type II, you should go straight to 20J on 18mm. I can’t find the link right now but I have seen another PDF from candela that shows pics of testing GentleLase at various settings on different skin types to see how high they can go without having serious adverse reaction, iirc even typeIV test subject could handle up to 20 fluence.

I am a true type I, redhead, freckles, always burns never tans, etc… and I can handle the max setting recommended for my skin type (40J/cm^2), with no problems. It hurts like heck at that energy level, and of course there is a skin reaction immediately afterwards which can look pretty intense but it fades within an hour just like the redness from lower energy levels.

The type of reactions which would be cause for concern are things like inflamed, raised bumps (wheals) which do not subside within a short period following the treatment. Redness which fades quickly is to be expected, especially with type I/II skin. Skin discoloration/hypopigmentation is really not much of a concern with typeI/II, unless you have freckles and are concerned about them fading (mine have definitely faded quite a bit, but I see that as a benefit)

Be sure and read the section of that PDF about ‘expected responses’ to treatment (BTW, erythema and edema mean redness and swelling, respectively) =)

It wasn’t easy for me to convince the people at my laser place to go to high settings either. The first technician was inexperienced and she was uncomfortable treating at higher settings so they transferred me to another lady with more experience who was willing to treat me at any setting, as long as we did a spot test first, which is the way it should be.

#4

Thaks so much for the great response, just to clarify the nurse didn’t say what skin type I am, but I did the test online and I am skin type III, not II.

I wanted to do a spot test but the nurse said it is not necessary. I contacted the doctor, but no luck in responding back to me. I might try again today.

I guess it will not be easy to convince this lady, but when I spoke to the dr, he said he would be using high setting on me, and she is not treatment me the way the dr and I had discussed.

#5

I just wanted to updated that I have been schedule a spot test for the 16th.