Is it really working?

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#21

Sue1111,

Sorry to hear that you’ve not had success with either laser or electrolysis.

However, your statement that permanency from Laser is false advertising is not entirely accurate. You are one case where it did not work. I had my back done with laser (GentleLase, 6 sessions, 6 weeks apart) six years a go and it has not grown back. I’d suspect it will be permanent.

I’ve also had permanence with electrolysis and usually it takes about 9 months to permanently clear an area (due to growth cycles), so a 10 year span without success indicates poor procedure.

#22

lawrence, you are right. 10 joules at 18mm on GentleLASE is low. Most people don’t see results at anything below 14 joules and that’s on coarse hair. I hope you do have dense coarse hair on these areas as this area is hard to treat on men, especially if it’s not dark and coarse. some people even see an increase in growth for a bit before they see results if the hair is finer in the beginning. just some things you should be aware of. also, feel free to ask her to do test spots at higher settings if she feels they might burn you. it’s best to stay at 18mm, and the highest is 20 joules on that setting, so the closer you can get to that, the better. good luck.

#23

Yes, I’ve had seemingly varying effectiveness with laser. I’ve had 8 treatments with a Candela Gentlelase and will have my 9th this morning. The results look good for up to 7 weeks for me, then the hairs grow back and that’s when I start to notice. I also notice that the upper parts of the back and shoulders are the hardest to treat; that’s where most of the growth is.

I’m at the point where we have been experimenting with different levels of laser power (joules) and spot sizes (15-18mm) and even have tried using the Yag laser as well.

#24

can you share what settings you have used so far? what is your skin and hair type? is the hair coarse?

#25

Gamansuru-

Have you noticed any difference on your shoulders/upper back from your 5th treatment on? Do these areas appear to be lessening with hair or is there the same type of regrowth everytime at the 7 wk mark?
I’ve had 5 treatments with not a whole lot of improvement between 3rd to 5th treatment. I would hate to keep being treated only to have the same regrowth situation every time.

#26

Grumpy - what was the last settings you used on your back. Also have you been moving up in the settings.

2 days ago I had my second treatment on the GentleEase Candela Alex, and I shocked the assistant tech by going up to a setting 16j on my skin (III-IV). Anyway, I was a bit red after the treatment, however 2days on and I have no more redness and no scarring. My upper arms are very sensitive to the laser so I placed some cooling cream on my arms before hand and this helped somewhat.

So I am now game to move up to a setting 18joules 20mm spot size. I will take a break from laser for 2 1/2 months to see how two treatments have gone and then go for another to clean up.

I don’t think there are many good tech’s out there (in australia) so sometimes you have to educate them with what you want. ie missed patches cleared, increasing the settings, even price is very negotiable in these places. Make sure you get the tech to do what you need done because we all know how expensive treatments are!

Have a good christmas break all those out there & try and think about the true meaning of christmas instead of all the commercial hype!

Lawrence

#27

My last setting, using an apogee 9300 alex was at
25 joules/15mm spot size/5 msec. I have not tried the gentlelase yet. I am going to wait a good 4 months since the last treatment was on Sept. 15th. before starting up again with the gentlelase laser.
Just keep pushing the techs to go higher. Within reason of course, you do not want to harm yourself. I’m a type 2 so your max limits are probably a little lower. Most lasers do have a max setting with spot size etc so you should go for that. I don’t want to sound superior but I think the majority of the laser techs out there don’t have a clue. Usually nurses who took a 10 hour laser course.
I was told I was the most irritating client she ever lasered because I asked so many questions…and the answers were always general without any commitment to her true knowledge of laser.
Best of luck.