This is the first time I’m posting.
I’m a 25 y/o white male, pale skin and light-to-brown hair. I live in California, where an MD has to run the facility where the laser is used. My dermatoligist/laser practioner was convinced that I had dark roots to my blonder hairs, so I should respond to treatment; of course, due to the nature of the technology, she couldn’t make any guarantees.
Two years ago (I was 23) I wanted to get rid of the hair on my chest,abs, arms/hands, lower back/buttox (where it was blonde), and the slight blonde patch I had in between my shoulder blades, along w/ the back of my neck, and the few dark strays I had poking out of my shoulders.
My dermatoligist started using a Lightshear Diode Laser on me. I worked my way up to a very high pulse level, and did over 11 rounds of treatment on all those areas, coming in every 6-8 weeks at first, and slowly taking longer breaks as I progressed further in rounds.
Every time I received treatment, the hairs would fall out, etc, but slowly over 2 months, they’d begin to come back.
After almost 2 years of treatments, on my chest/abs (where the hair was dark), and lower back/buttox (where the hair was blonde) there was significant progress. The lower back/buttox area was reduced to very fine, and very light hairs–almost invisible. The chest was reduced at least 60%, although there still was a lot left.
I have since gone 6 months w/out treating my lower back/buttox, and it has remained thin/fine almost invisible, so I’m begining to think this change is “permanent”, which is great. I’ve gone 3.5 months since I’ve treated my chest/abs, and it’s still 60% reduced from 2 years ago when I started, so I’m begining to think this reduction might be “permanent” as well, which although isn’t 100% smooth, it’s still a good start and not bad, especially if I can clear it even more with further rounds of treatment.
However, the shoulders, back of the neck, and upper back patch had only gotten worse. My doctor gave up, and said perhaps I should see someone else and try an Alexandrite lazer to see if that would provide better results. My doctor was confused as to why I was needing to undergo so many rounds; she’d hoped that 10 at most was all I’d need. But here, after over 11 rounds, I still had areas that weren’t responding to treatment.
I went through 2 rounds of the Candela Gentle Laze Alexandrite laser, and after a couple of months, the hair in these trobulesome areas started to come back (I treated only my neck, upper back, and chest/abs). This new practioner believed that I just needed to stay on top of it, and keep coming back for more rounds of treatment, perhaps for another 10 rounds even, and eventually we’d kill them-- at least the hairs on my upper back/neck-- which are the areas i want to clear the most.
I’ve since moved to Los Angeles, and I have to find a new laser practioner.
I went to the Candela website, and they have a very poorly designed practioner-search tool. Of the 6 or so practioners in LA that use their products, only 1 of them seemed to operate on a weekend (I’m too busy during the week to see a dr). I had a consultation, and their nurse thought I was borderline; they could maybe help reduce, but they doubted that my upper back/neck could be cleared. She thought my hairs were mostly too fine/light. But to my eye, they look pretty dark.
I’d like to get another opinion, but I don’t want to go to the quacks that advertise in the newspapers, etc.
So here are my questions:
A) Am I a hopeless cause?? I hate the sinking feeling that I might not be able to get effective, and permanent, treatment. If the Alexandrite and the Diode can’t help me, what should I do? This is too large of an area to rely on electrolysis.
B) How can I find a good doctor/practioner? Is there a State or neutrally run website that lists reliable (i.e. non quacks, con artists, etc) practioners in the state of California?
Please offer me any advice you can; thanks for your time.