I think this is a very helpful website, oh I wished I could of read this before purchasing so many treatments.
<img src=“/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif” alt=“” />
http://www.laserhairremovalreview.com/
the FAQs here provide you with the most unbiased information, including types of lasers and everything that you saw here and more. Everyone doing research should also read those. That’s why they were created and they’re unbiased. I always suggest only starting with one area and not pre-paying for treatments if at all possible.
this website is not bad, but ultimately pretty biased as this doctor performs LHR and promotes his business here. He also recommends that only physicians perform treatments, which is not what one should look for. This is good for HIS business, but ultimately what consumers need is to find someone who knows what they’re doing, not if they have an M.D. after their name. There is actually legislation in process right now to revise this law in some states where it’s valid because the most important factor is EXPERIENCE, and most actual physicians don’t actually perform these types of services themselves as that’s not what they went to medical school for and you really don’t need to be a doctor to be good at this.
here’s the FAQ link again: www.hairremovalforum.com/faq.cfm
Ok, so Dr. Jay thinks pulsed light is the best and grades it higher than all other lasers? I wonder what type of IPL he uses…
Lets skip the research and just state opinion as fact Dr. Jay.
this website is not bad, but ultimately pretty biased as this doctor performs LHR and promotes his business here…
Actually the website is crap and puts out false information. I know this doctor. He states that he was one of the first persons to get an Epilight; true. But then goes on to state that he is only one of three people to have a superfast Epilight, which is false. Heck I had one also. I got my Epilight in July 1997 on a year later when it was approved by the FDA. By July 1999 I put it in the hallway, never to use it again.
And let me explain why that was a big deal. Because each month for the next three years, I sent a check to the leasing company for about $3,000. That is $3K a month for 36 months for a machine I was not using. Why was I not using that machine, because it was inferior to the other machines I owned.
The problem with people like Dr. Jay is that either they haven’t bothered to buy and use every technology or they are beholden to a company who pays them for using their technology and promoting it to other doctors who aren’t willing to invest the time and effort to figure out things for themselves. And they go about spouting opinions that are untrue to the public who then believes them because they are a doctor and a doctor must be right.
haha, ok, i’ll take that back. i was trying to be objective and nice <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
If you carefully read the site, the section where it explains different types of laser, you’ll find out that its all facts, yeah he may be stating , and promoting his choice of laser, but he is right when it comes to explaining different types of laser. He never states that certain laser could work for everyone, in fact if you look at the anaylsis/skin tye chart section of the website, it states that every one of the lasers are different, and will work differently on everyone , it all depends on your skin, hair type. He also repeats that in his opinion certain lasers are better. So to say that this site is crap is very stupid, since I never said that he is right about his choice of laser, however he has good information(facts) about lasers on his website for someone who doesn’t know alot about different types of laser.
the problem is it’s not helpful to those who don’t know about hair removal at all to read biased information stated as fact. for example, it is a fact that the industry in general (as discussed at conferences etc) considers alexandrite lasers most effective. yes, they can’t be used at effective settings on all skin types, but they’re most effective and much more effective than IPLs for hair removal purposes. other types of lasers are used for those skin types that can’t be treated with an alex laser due to potential burning, but this also reduces the efficacy of treatments – this means that alex lasers are still best. stating that IPLs are the best, when they’re actually considered the worst after alex, yag, and diode lasers is just misinformation that is not helpful to newbies to the industry looking for advice. that’s how they fall into contracts prepaying for many treatments and then come here complaining that they didn’t get results.
Not to beat a dead horse but…
There are alot of facts, yes. He trumps all of them and voids any knowledge he may have when he grades IPL the best. If I want to go for the rest of my life never having any pain and laser shaving he’s my guy.
It all depends on the skin type, and the individual. for example my sister had only 6 treatments with laserscope gemini, and hasn’t shaved ever since!!! it’s been about 12 months. on the other hand I’ve been treated 7 times, and still have to shave, though not as much as I did a year ago. And yes I regreat buying the treatments, because I should’ve experimented with different lasers.I made my decision to buy 8 treatments based on my sister’s result, I figured hey we are sisters we have the same genes if it worked on her it will work on me as well. Boy I was wrong…So again I do agree that maybe this doctor is promoting his laser of chioce, but again you can’t also say that alex lasers are the best, because what might have worked for you, might not work for someone else. Based on my research which consists of reading things online, and asking different dermatologist that perform laser hair removal, I have found no proof of an effictive laser that works for everyone. Unless you want to prove me wrong and give me some evidence.
that’s the problem. if alex doesn’t work on you at effective settings, others lasers types and IPL won’t work either if you have the right skin type (I-III normally). if you are one of the lucky ones and IPL DOES work for you, then chances are that alex would have prolly worked better and faster. it doesn’t work vice versa though - and that’s the main point there, i.e. what works best. there are studies. look under the sticky posts on this and the cosmetic enhancements forum.
I will definatley take this piece of information into consideration when I’m looking to <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> get my legs done, however I wont purchase packages even though they will save me money,because I have a feeling that I am one of the unlucky hairy ones…
If you carefully read the site, the section where it explains different types of laser, you’ll find out that its all facts, yeah he may be stating , and promoting his choice of laser, but he is right when it comes to explaining different types of laser. He never states that certain laser could work for everyone, in fact if you look at the anaylsis/skin tye chart section of the website, it states that every one of the lasers are different, and will work differently on everyone , it all depends on your skin, hair type. He also repeats that in his opinion certain lasers are better. So to say that this site is crap is very stupid, since I never said that he is right about his choice of laser, however he has good information(facts) about lasers on his website for someone who doesn’t know alot about different types of laser.
Since I’m the one who said it was crap let me prove it. But first, understand that I don’t make the statement lightly. It is not my style to say nasty things about people. I try to be polite. I’m not saying that he isn’t a good dermatologist. I’m just saying that what he has written is not really facts and is really a bunch of crap. But let me prove it with just a few quotes from his website.
The IPL analysis.
Quote: The capabilities of each of these machines vary. EpiLight is the most specific and advanced for hair removal.
Crap. The Epilight was state the art in 1997. This is almost 9 years later. Let me give you an example. IPL have filters. Newer ones have upper and lower filters to filter out dangerous wavelengths. The Epilight had no upper filter. It used gel as a filter. You had to float the head in the gel to filter out wavelengths over 1000 or so nanometers. If you had too little gel or didn’t float it well enough, you burnt the client. Here is an interesting tidbit, very few people and I mean very few, ever understood why you needed the gel. I doubt that Dr. Jay understood it.
Quote: My Ultimate Light™ method has produced a 50% hair reduction after an average of one to two treatments. Hair colors ranging from black, brown, red, and blond respond to treatment.
Crap. His Ultimate Light™ method is just marketing garbage. I don’t doubt the 50% reduction. But no one and I mean no one, has ever been able to show effective reduction of any amount in red or blond hair. In fact, ESC the people who created the Epilight (which is what he uses) were sued over making that claim.
Now some quotes about the Alexandrite.
Quote: However, it frequently produces side effects such as pigmentary changes (lightening or darkening of the skin), or worse, for patients of all but white skin.
Crap. It produces side effects at about the same rate that he says he gets complications (in his hand) from the Epilight. But the truth is that when studies compared the Epilight to the alexandrites, that the complication rate for the Epilight was sky high. This is one of the reasons that ESC stopped making it and created the Quantum with upper and lower filters. So the bottom line is that the statement that it “frequently produces side effects” is false.
Quote: I would not recommend using this lasers for treating unwanted hair in any skin type other than very white skin.
Crap. The alexandrite is great on skin types I through III. To say that it works only on very white skin is just plain false.
I could go on, but I think you get my drift.
What bothers me about this kind of crap is that people read it and believe what it says. They believe that this is true because a physician wrote it. Yet I’ve heard physicians make statements at conferences (people who are considered luminaries in the field of laser medicine) that violate the known laws of physics.
And I cringe when people state that they have learned everything they know about laser hair removal from reading on the internet. I’m sorry. It doesn’t mean that you know what you are talking about. There is a lot of false information out there and more importantly, there is a lot of stuff that isn’t anywhere out there. I teach an 8 hour class to my senior managers on laser physics. The stuff covered in the last two hours of my class you will find no where on the web, yet it sits at the heart of understanding what is really going on during a laser pulse. One of the reasons I post here is to try to clear up misconceptions.
Thank you sslhr and lagirl. I read all the bull on that site when this was first posted and was anticipating those like yourselves with more credentials and experience to nullify those claims. We really appreciate your expertise and time to clear up those misconceptions.
It’s amazing what people will say just to sell themselves. Most advertising only causes confusion by stating falsehoods as facts. Just watch TV and you have to laugh at all the BS.
I love the Internet in that it’s possible to find real world answers from real people on just about any subject. Forums are a lifesaver for exposing false advertising and hidden gotchas. However, you still have to find the real experts in those discussions. We’ve got some great ones on this forum.