Lol interesting! My clinic always uses the 12mm for YAG. Although I’ve only had body work done.
The smaller ones sound great for facial areas.
Smaller spot size is not necessarily great. If they use a smaller one, they should adjust the joules accordingly since the effect of the joules decreases as you decrease the spot size.
Reading your posts confirmed my opinion of Thursday’s consultation. From the information disseminated on this website, I knew that I could get desired results (80-90% clearance), in much less than nine treatments, provided the technician uses a setting aggressive enough to begin with. The 12 Joule setting she was intending to use was a bit insulting to me, as an informed LHR prospect.
Well, now for some great news. I did a consultation over the telephone with a doctors office which is about 2 ½ hours away. I’ve tried to seek out the GentleLASE machine at this point in my research. I spoke directly with the technician who was very down to earth. She seemed to be very realistic and willing to work with me to meet my goals. She answered all of my questions in a reasonable fashion and I felt very comfortable with her responses. She come across as “real people” as the southern expression goes Even though it will involve a great deal of driving, I have scheduled a treatment for next Wednesday. She is comfortable starting at a higher setting for the initial treatment. She said we could even do a test patch at an 18 or 20 and wait a bit to see how the skin reacts before beginning the entire treatment.
The research phase (just to develop a working knowledge of the equipment on today’s market), I’ve found to be exciting yet a bit tiring. Maybe the research was not as wearisome (thanks to hairtell.com) as trying to find a service provider with the proper focus. My conclusion is that the majority of providers in this industry make their salaries by over servicing under informed clientele. Frankly, it appears that contributors on hairtell are more knowledgeable about LHR than some service providers in my regional market. I’d be interested to know if others here are of the same opinion.
I’m glad to know that I will be being treated with the Rolls Royce for my skin type. The technician also has 5 years exp. with the GentleLASE.
I’m really excited about getting the ingrown problem under control. I think I will take some before photos of the problematic area as a baseline.
Once again, I cannot thank you all enough for all your input and honest advice, your guidance is invaluable.
Very many kind regards,
I wouldn’t say that 9 is much to get good clearance, it depends on many factors. But i would say that asking for 9 and demanding to use a setting that low is a bit shady to me, to say the least.
Lise, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Certain people here are more knowledgeable about laser (or at least more honest), because they don’t have a financial investment in it. They are here to help and nothing more. So they gain nothing by misleading you or suggesting ineffective treatments.
I can’t even begin to tell you how frustrating it can be dealing with so-called “professionals” at a clinic after having such straight-forward assistance from hairtell members. If I hadn’t had hairtell, I’d never know what I was missing. But now this place has spoiled me and I expect a level of competence and professionalism that many laser centers simply don’t have.
Lise, I think at least on this forum, we’re all of the same opinion 
I’m glad you seem to have found a good clinic. We would love it if you kept up a thread outlining your experience as you’re getting treatments!
It shouldn’t be a huge issue that they’re 2.5 hrs away. You’ll only need to go in once every 8-12 weeks if treatments are good and they don’t miss spots.
Let us know how shedding goes in 3 weeks!
Omg apogee mpx looks so cool! 18mm and hybrid mode, yag and alex at the same time!
^Lol, love your reaction. I wonder how that would work though.
I’m not sure lol I just love that it has 18mm now, I hope my clinic gets it asap haha. Maybe the hybrid just means you can fire one pulse on alex then switch it to yag instantly for the next pulse without having to plug the handpiece back into the machine where it makes all that noise and changes the configuration or something. Not sure!
I’ve read about the Apogee MPX. It can fire the Alex and Yag consecutively with 18mm spot. How is such a technique more effective at laser hair removal if these 2 lasers were designed for different skin types? Say a person with skin type II responds best to Alex, what use is there to apply this MPX that can fire the Yag on that skin type too, when the Yag is not optimal for lighter skin types? Or what’s the use at firing Alex with Yag on skin type IV when Alex can burn them?
Yags penetrate deeper. So that would be the benefit, if the hair being treated is deep.
Yeah exactly like on my face where alex works great but only yag can treat my chin since the hair is deep. Being able to fire both would give an amazing result on my face! Now if only my clinic would buy one haha.
Got an update about my first treatment yesterday. The staff was nice and professional. They were truly interested in having satisfied clients.
She did a small test area with the GentleLASE using the 18mm spot set on 18 Joules. She asked how I felt and we waited a little to see how the skin would react. With favorable responses, we proceed to do the initial treatment at these settings, with the exception of two areas.
She said my reaction to the treatment was favorable.
She started with my abdomen, and I just relaxed and closed my eyes. Once she finished this area, I took a look and thought, my how unsightly. By the end of the session though the abdomen area was looking much better. Today my skin still looks a little like a plucked chicken, but swelling has subsided considerably.
It’s worth it! 18/18 are very good settings, only one higher is 20 so those are great settings to be treated at if your skin can handle it. Any higher is the max the machine can handle so you should get great results.
As a side note, if you DIDN’T get good results, or shedding etc, then you may not be a candidate for laser in those areas since again GentleLASE is one of the best and you’re pretty much almost as high as it can go.
Ice the area and apply pure aloe vera gel (the clear stuff) cooled in the fridge. Everything sounds good.
Thank you for all the help.
Another update: The swelling has gone down, it lasted a few days. Now the stubble looking stuff has started to appear. Actually yesterday (which would be the 4th day after treatment) I had a few areas that had a bit of light itching. When I scratched lightly, it appeared that I’m already experiencing some shedding; I wonder if this could be true so early after treatment?
I’ve been having some trouble logging onto the forum, if I can get on at home this evening I’ll try to post some photos.
Thank you LAgirl for the tip about putting the aloe in the fridge, that felt really good the first few days after treatment.
I am so excited about this process, thanks again to everyone for your help.
Mine wasn’t easily falling out so soon, but it did start appearing and I could take it out without much difficulty around that mark 
Shedding can start at any time. Some itching can be experienced while shedding. Aloe should help.
If you can pull out the hair without resistance, that’s technically “shedding”.
I have an update and more questions. Shedding in my lower abdomen region has occurred within the last 3 days or so (mostly on 5/30 and 5/31). My upper abdomen and legs still appear stubbly. I understand that hair grows at different rates, depending on the part of the body. I also understand that shedding usually occurs with 1.5-3.5 weeks after treatment. Having stated that, I have a few questions:
1.With the lower ab area shedding at 10 days, when could I reasonably expect the upper ab region, legs, posterior, scrotal areas to begin shedding?
2. When an area begins to shed, does the shedding occur within 2 or 3 days, like I experienced in the lower ab region (was my result typical)?
On my upper outer thigh I’ve noticed in the last day or two a few hairs that look like the shaft has mushroomed at the epidermis (I wish I could post photos). Will these develop into the “pepper spots” that I’ve read about?
As always, thank you all very much for your help and time. Kind regards.
Shedding lasts for up to 3.5 weeks. So you should wait until then to judge all areas.