I am have had 3 treatments with the lightsheer diode laser on my underarms, bikini, lower legs, and toes. The settings were 30, 32, and 34. I am a skin type III with dark brown to black coarse hair. So far all areas have had at least 50% reduction except my lower legs. There seems to be no reduction yet on my legs. The practitioner says I have the coarsest lower leg hair she has ever seen on a women. It is also very dark in color. I wonder why my legs have not had any good results as the rest of the treated areas?
the hair cycles might be just lining up right now. for most peolpe that happens around treatment 3-4, after which you see considerable improvement.
btw, does she use the up and down method or gliding? do you experience shedding on all areas in the same way?
she does use up and down gliding. I do shed on my legs, but not very much, the shedding on my legs is usually sparse. I shed very well elsewhere with almost full clearance for about 3-4 weeks.
When you are first getting started, it is really difficult to see a difference. You say that you had three treatments on the lower legs and they don’t seem to be responding. They probably are but because of the amount of hair and etc that was there, you might not be able to see the difference. I didn’t really start noticing a difference until the 4th. Before that, I was wonderig the same thing – is this working? Are the settings not high enough? Did the tech do a lousy job?
if there is very little shedding, it might be an indication that settings need to be increased for that area. is she using long or short pulse? short pulse is more effective. also, those are 2 different methods, one is up and down, and the other gliding along the skin.
Is the skin on your lower legs darker than on other areas?
How was the pain level on your lower legs compared to other areas? How much post treatment redness did you have there.
The lower legs usually respond well to laser if you have the right skin and hair type.
I would expect to see more reduction than that on the lower legs after 3 treatments.
If a Lightsheer practitioner is not using compression, I would go elsewhere. That shows that they don’t know what they are doing. Compression can make the difference between the treatment working or not working.
You may be better off with a Nd:YAG laser on the lower legs if the hair is still coarse. It can penetrate deeper into the hair follicles.
RJC2001
2fedup
Don’t give up … like you, I had very coarse dark hair on my lower legs (and also under my arms) and I did rid myself of it after 6 treatments with the Lightsheer. It’s been 3 years now and I get little regrowth, and what I get is very fine – like peach fuzz. I maybe shave my legs once a month! It is great to not have to be embarrassed about the hair anymore.
cathy_jean. that is great. Can you recommend the place where you had your treatments done for others searching in your area? thanks!
The skin on my lower legs is as white as the other areas. They haven’t seen the light of day for a long time. I guess I don’t really notice if she uses compression or not on my legs. I know she does on the other areas. But the pain is so intense, I don’t really pay attention to the little things. It is definately far far more painful on my legs than anywhere else. All the follicles have little red bumps around them after the treatment. They last about 24 hours. Maybe I should ask her if she is using compression? But I think it may offend her. Cathy, thank you for your testimony, it is very reassuring. How long did it take you to see results on your legs? Thanks a bunch everyone!
From your description (pain and red around the follicles), it sounds like the treatments might be working. If there isn’t much shedding, then I think despite the pain and etc, the power setting might not be high enough.
Well, I had my 4th treatment today on all four areas. I told her of my problem with my legs. She turned the energy up to 40 this time. She said that legs are usually harder to treat and it takes longer to see good results. We’ll see how much I shed within the next few weeks. Wish me luck
here is an interesting post on the subject from an MD who owns a chain of clinics in Texas and has been doing this (including some studies himself) for almost 10 years (since lasers first surfaced)
"jim1976 wrote:
I have 3 patches on my left shoulder that now have 50% more hair than the rest of my back, before the patch tests I had equal growth all over. explain that ! I can supply picks to prove.
Very simple to explain. And very easy to prove with hair counts. Pictures not required.
All the hair you are ever going to have is present at birth, but most of that hair is in a dormant stage. It is there but just not growing. It is well known that certain things can stimulate dormant hair to grow. Things like hormonal change, age (which is probably related to hormonal changes), and a host of other issues such as chemical burns and reactions to noxious stimuli.
So you come in for laser hair removal to treat an area that has 50 hairs. But there may be 300 hairs that are dormant. The laser hopefully kills all the hairs and shocks the other hairs into dormancy. This is why there is a period when there is no hair growing (it doesn’t always happen but is what is expected). Then after a period of time, the next crop of hairs start growing. But the energy in the laser can also stimulate hairs that would otherwise be dormant to also start growing.
So instead of having just fifty hairs growing, there may be a hundred. What does it mean, nothing. Other than it helps to make the laser hair removal more effective because now there are more active hairs growing that can be targeted and killed if the settings and the laser are effective.
This experience tends to go away after treatment number three or four, when a significant proportion of the hair is destroyed. But it can look weird and be unnerving in the beginning."
You can find this post here:
http://cosmeticenhancementsforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=20285&highlight=#20285
If a Lightsheer practitioner is not using compression, I would go elsewhere. That shows that they don’t know what they are doing. Compression can make the difference between the treatment working or not working.
RJC2001
What do you mean by compression? What are they supposed to do?
thanks
They are supposed to push down on the handpiece rather than gliding it. Compression causes the follicles to rotate so they are closer to the handpiece and make treatment more effective. It also makes the cooling system more effective.
RJC2001
They are supposed to push down on the handpiece rather than gliding it. Compression causes the follicles to rotate so they are closer to the handpiece and make treatment more effective. It also makes the cooling system more effective.
RJC2001
My practitioner uses the gliding method. How do I nicely tell them to use the compression method?? They’ll just get annoyed with me cuase they think they know everything.
Also gliding is faster which is probably why they do it.
Ask them why they don’t use compression. Tell them you read about it in a column by a doctor on the Lumenis website. It was on there at one time and still may be.
I am more concerned with effectiveness than speed of treatment! Not all lasers are designed to be used with compression, but the Lighsheer certainly was!
And it’s your money you have every right to ask questions and make requests. They should not be annoyed by that.
RJC2001