So I had my underarms done today with a lightsheer diode laser. She started on 29 j/cm and went down to 25/26 for most of the armpits, I think because I was complaining of pain. It pretty much hurt like hell, or more than I expected at least. (Felt like needles jabbing in, worse than a bikini wax.) I have skin type 2. I was wondering what you guys think of these settings? It’s now 2 hours later and I still feel a bit of stinging on the arm she had the high setting on, but my right arm feels fine.
29 joules isn’t bad for a diode. Do you know what the pulse was? The darker and coarser the hair (and the number of hairs you have in an area) can make it more painful, it sounds like the tech did the right thing to lower joules.
Some pain is an indicator that the settings are not to low, but not to the point where the area is still stinging 2 hours afterwards. I’m sure the pain will go away in a little while, is their any redness in any particular spots more than others?
Regards,
Benji
There is a bit more redness/bumpiness/pain in the center of my left (where the higher joules were used) but I’m wondering if this is just because of the ingrown hairs. I had quite a few on each side before treatment.
I’ve applied 98% pure aloe gel and most of the redness has gone away, the area is still quite bumpy, but I’m pretty sure that will go.
Unfortunately I don’t know what the pulse was, what kind of number would that look like?
I was a bit nervous because when I called the clinic (and on their website) they said that the treatments were administered by doctors (endocrinologists) and R.Ns. But when I got there for the consult they said that they Endocrin doctors had sold the business 3 months earlier to one of the R.N.s so there currently wasn’t a doctor on staff. That made me a little worried because on the phone last week they still said there were doctors on staff. sketchy. sorry this is so long! and thanks for the response 
As long as the stinging sensation has gone down, that is good. It’s good to hear that your going ahead with the after care, plenty of aloe vera. I found a good trick was to put it in the fridge for a little while to cool and then applying it.
The joules can range from 10 ms (although I believe some lightsheer models can go down to 5ms) and above, however most techs aren’t that confident with using anything under 20ms. On your skin type I would say you wouldn’t want anything above 30ms at least.
After a successful laser treatment there is usually some little red bumps around the follicles which go down in a couple of days, however the redness on the skin itself should subside within a day or so, however some find that it goes down after a couple of hours. The pulse can play a big factor in how the skin reacts to laser, I was talking to my tech at one of the clinics I go to and she decided to test out using 10ms on a 15mm nd:YAG (normally she should treat herself at 40ms, as she has a darker skin type) and found she got a large amount of irritation.
See how the hair sheds, this is another indicator of the success of the treatment, if the hair sheds (or is in a stage of shedding e.g. pepper spots) then it is likely that the hair has been affected and shold begin to grow back slightly finer (most people see the biggest reduction after treatments #2 or 3).
Regards,
Benji
It sounds like you had an effective treatment. Raised follicles and some redness are all signs of an effective treatment. Without the pulse number, it’s hard to tell how high these settinsg are, but in general, anything over 25 joules on this machine is not bad. Just be patient, apply aloe vera, and let us know how shedding went in 3 weeks.
thanks for the responses I’m just waiting for the shedding now.
I have another question: how far apart should underarm and bikini treatments be placed? The tech suggested 5 weeks for underarm. Or do you wait until you see enough hair to justify a second treatment?
5 weeks is way to short. The usual length of time is 8-12 weeks (except for male faces which, depending on the rate of regrowth, can be treated again after 6 weeks).
By 5 weeks there will not be another hair to make the treatment worthwhile, neither will the hair that is begin to grow be in it’s prime state for hair removal.
I found my bikini line was ready to be relasered between 8-10 weeks, but you have to play it by ear.
Regards,
Benji
5 is usually too short for most people as mentioned. Just wait until you have enough hair to return. It will probably be somewhere in the 8-12 week range as it is for most people.