is fluence between lasers interchangeable?

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

im wondering this because im going to be treated by a laser that doesnt seem as popular as the others. it is a palomar slp1000, my doctor says that about as high as she ever goes is 40J, and that numbers between 20-30J is far more common with her laser…
should i be concerned that this is too low?
i hear of many people being done with the fluence over 40J… but those are with different lasers…
should i be looking for someone using a different laser… like the lightsheer?
i need very permanent results, and cant afford to throw any money away, unfortunately… im very limited financially…

[ August 27, 2002, 03:33 PM: Message edited by: daniel ]

#2

Is the Palomar a diode or Nd:YAG laser? It was my understanding that YAG lasers require higher fluences than diode or alex to be effective. This is because melanin absorption is not has high with the YAG, but the YAG penetrates deeper into the skin.

If I were being treated with a diode laser, I would want the capability to go higher than 40J. 30-40J may be OK to start out with but higher fluences will eventually be necessary to maintain effectiveness.
I had one treatement with the Lightsheer diode laser at 28J and it was not very effective at all so it was redone at no charge.

RJC2001
RJC2001

#3

Hi there,

“Fluence” just tells you how much energy is being administered per unit area.

Usually it’s Joules for energy, and square centimeter for the area.

Example:

The Fluence of a LightSheer XC is represented as J/cm^2

A Fluence of 30 in that case would mean 30 Joules over a square centimeter.

#4

Sorry, hit reply too soon. :smile:

I forgot to mention, I use the Lightsheer XC, as described above.

My first treatment starts at 26 or 28 Fluence, and increases by of 2 at every session. So, at my 6th and last session, I’ll be using 40. That’s about a year away though.

I’m seeing acceptable results so far from the low 30’s. The more Fluence/Joules you get, the higher chance of skin damage, and the more it hurts. Higher fluence (40+) can be used on lighter hairs, which don’t respond so well to a lower fluence. Those with lighter hairs also experience less pain, because dark hairs absorb laser light much better.

So, it comes down to what skin/hair type you have.

#5

Fluence and pulse width will vary by wavelength when setting up treatment parameters.

It’s likely that you would need different fluences on different lasers.