I’m between a type III and IV. I had GentleLase at 10j, and got excellent shedding over my entire chest (except for a couple missed spots) within one week.
If my hair is about as coarse and black as it gets, could those settings give me permanent results, or is 10j high enough to get shedding, but too low for permanent results? I’d like to go to 14, but considering how red 10 got me (lasted three days, but not burnt), I’m a bit leery about 14.
Thanks
GentleLase or GentleMax? Either way, 10J is too weak. As you can see from here:
http://www.laserpartnersok.com/uploads/GLP_Treatment_Guidelines.pdf
For a skin type 3 using the GentleLASE, 10J is the absolute minimum, and that’s with the lowest possible pulse width. GentleMAX has an adjustable pulse width, so it may not be at 3ms.
If you’re using a GentleMAX, you can switch to the YAG side, and can probably go pretty powerful with that. Since your redness lasted 3 days, that seems pretty long. Even when I get treated on the nearly most powerful alex settings on the GentleMAX followed immediately by strong treatment on the YAG side, the redness usually subsides in 24 hours.
OK thanks. I can handle 12 because we did a test patch, and I told her to go down to 10 because of the pain (didn’t want to take a chance on burning because I came from Yag and it wasn’t nearly as painful). I’d like to try 14 next time, but if I can’t handle it, do you think I’m better off at 12 with Alex, or high settings on Yag? I had Yag on my back (12mm @ 36j), and the shedding is much more pronounced with Alex 18mm @ 10j.
Thanks
Hi Derek,
Here are 2 threads (albeit a bit old) that you might find interesting:
Shedding alone isn’t going to be enough to tell if it worked (sucks, but it is what it is). As you can tell, it seems low settings on alex are in general better than the YAG. However, if you’re on GentleLase, you can’t do anything to change the pulse width, so the suggestion of doing higher joules and increasing the pulse width a little aren’t going to work.