LD80K & some sketchy information?

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

I went for a consult to a newish laser clinic that opened up in the city which does laser smoking cessation & weight loss on top of hair removal: http://www.youcanquitsmoking.ca/

They’re having a grand opening promotion, so I thought I’d check it out and see if I got a good feeling about the place.

It was very nicely appointed inside, and the tech was very pleasant and friendly, but I’m feeling pretty iffy about it (probably a sign I should just go somewhere else no?)

Anyway, I was hoping someone could give me a little more information, as my experience with laser hair removal is limited to one treatment over a year ago.

  1. They use a LD80K machine, which I’m unfamiliar with, and all the information about it online seems to be sales pages, which I’m not sure I trust to provide unbiased info. Is the LD80K a good system? (I have fair skin - probably somewhere between Type II and III and coarse, black hair.)

  2. The tech said she’d been provided training through another clinic in this chain in another city, but didn’t seem to have any kind of third party certification or anything. Should she?

  3. I believe most (all?) of the other laser clinics in my city are either owned by, supervised by or otherwise overseen by a MD. This one is not. Is it standard for a place that provides laser hair removal to be connected to a doctor (most of these other places also provide other cosmetic procedures too, like microdermabrasion, botox so maybe that’s the only reason they have doctors involved.)

  4. The tech said that laser treatments should be done one week apart for 5-6 weeks, that I wouldn’t see any results after the first treatment, and that they use a “carbon dye” on your skin to… improve the laser’s effectiveness on the hair follicles or something to that effect.

The timing seems all wrong to me, the idea of going for several treatments before seeing any results at all seems off and I’ve never heard of “carbon dye”. (Also, their website says the time between treatments is 4-8 weeks depending on the area, which sounds much more… correct, to me.)

And, the tech has been doing treatments for two months tops.

So, is my instinct to run far, far away the right one, or am I just uninformed and paranoid? I don’t mind trying something new if I have reason to feel confident about it, but I do need to feel confident.

#2

I had never heard of this laser until now. With good reason! A new one is $2500 on eBay!!! It’s garbage. This is why there is not a physician involved with this business.

Your instinct is working! Run far away.

Out of curiousity, how much were they going to charge your, and for what area?

#3

Underarm, Brazilian bikini, full legs, abdomen and chest was quoted at $250 for one treatment on their promotional offer, so regularly it would be $500 per treatment. I told them their sale price wasn’t much better than the regular price for the clinic I went to before and they offered to knock the price down to $175.

I was exploring my options but I think I’ll be going back to the previous clinic I went to - http://www.thunderbaylaserclinic.com/

My experience with them was very good - even after only one treatment I still have noticeable reduction after a year; the tech, Sue-Ann Fortier, was pleasant, knowledgeable and experienced; they use a CoolGlide laser; the whole clinic just feels very professional and reputable and the price per treatment seems to be extremely reasonable (I think I paid $275 or thereabouts for my first treatment, which was for all the areas listed above. I was going to start with a small area, but the cost of doing each area separately would have been so much more than doing everything at the same time.)

Thanks for confirming what my gut was telling me.

#4

I believe this is a foreign at-home machine, that’s basically garbage. I think it’s meant to be used with a dye as other gimmicks in that category. Don’t be their test subject. I doubt they will be around for long, at least in the hair removal business.

You need an alexandrite laser. I wouldn’t even waste time on clinics that don’t have one. Call before you spend the time to go in person and figure wht what they have.

Coolglide is a Yag, and is ok, but an alexandrite like GentleLASE or Apogee will be even better with more efficient resuts. There are lots of clinics around. Use our tips at the link below and do your research well before committing to anything.

Women’s chests and abdomens usually don’t have hair that’s coarse enough for laser. Hair needs to be as coarse as your underarms and bikini hair.

#5

I love the way the company advertises their product by knocking electrolysis with the line:

"Electrolysis is an option, but not if you don’t enjoy long sessions of needles shoved into your hair follicles. Sure, the hair will be gone but you’ll be left with bumpy, inflamed skin instead. Explore the most advanced method available today - laser hair removal "

This claim seems to suggest that electrolysis is more damaging to the skin than their treatment, and you will be disfigured by electrolysis.

At the end of the day, I would wonder if this is the same LD(Enter Number Here) scam product that we have talked about frequently. There is an organized crime ring that makes a so called hair removal LASER that they sell in a scam where if you complain they tell you that your unit is defective, and offer to trade you for the “New & Improved” model, then for a few hundred dollars more, they send you back the same thing with a different sticker/label on it to show you that you now have swapped, for instance the LD80K for the LD2000K. In any event, the product this group sell does not work for removing anything but your money.

#6

I unfortunate do have some very coarse ones in those areas (hopefully not for long.) What the laser does not get I’ll definitely get cleaned up with electrolysis, but it’s mainly those really dark, coarse ones I’m worried about (and that’s mainly what I have.)

Looking at the clinics in my area, I see two use CoolGlide, one uses Cuter ProWave and another uses Harmony.

Cutera’s website didn’t say what type of laser the ProWave is - I’m guessing Yag, as it says it’s okay for all skin types? I’ve never heard of Harmony before either.

LAgirl, you mentioned Yag is not the first choice for light skin - why is that? Is the Yag laser less likely to get the hairs and I’ll need more treatments, or will the hairs that are treated tend to grow back?

After my first CoolGlide treatment, I was completely hair free for quite a while after the hair shed out (it was amazing lol.) There were a couple of very small patches that the tech missed, but otherwise everything shed out. Are the hairs that were shed after that treatment really gone, or could they have grown back? Basically, if it looks like I’m getting good results with the Yag can I trust my observations, or should I expect that I may not get long term results on follicles that looked to have been effectively treated at the time?

I’m kind of not too keen on having to go to another city to find a clinic with an Alexandrite laser (I’m practically in the middle of nowhere - it’d be a 6-8 hour drive in each direction and an over night stay at least), but I’m also not too keen on dropping money on treatments with a Yag laser if it’s not going to give me good results.

#7

ProWave is an IPL I believe. Harmony is an IPL as well. No laser or IPL is great for “all skin types”. That’s just marketing hype. Sure, you can use a Yag on very light skin or an IPL on dark skin, but you wouldn’t get the BEST results possible. And isn’t tht what you’re paying for?

Yags are not best for light skin because they’re not as powerful as alexandrite lasers. So you won’t get as good of results as fast as with an alex. Yags were made to accomodate darker skin types - they were made less powerful to avoid burning that type of skin.

Yag will get you results. But it will have trouble after a couple treatments when your hair will get finer.

If you definitely don’t have anyone with an alex nearby, getting treatments by someone experience with a YAG is fine. Just keep in mind that it will only work on the very coarse hair.

#8

Thanks so much! I’ll continue with the Yag for now and when the coarser hair is gone (and that’s mainly what I’m worried about anyway) I’ll look around either for a good electrologist or see about travelling to someone with an Alexandrite laser for treating the rest.

#9

I went for another treatment with my original tech using the CoolGlide. She used the same settings as last time, though it was a little more painful than I remembered and I have some redness around the follicles that I didn’t have last time. I’m going back on Thursday to finish the brazilian, as I just couldn’t handle any more in that one sitting (forgot to take any painkillers before hand.)

Is Aspirin okay to take prior to a laser treatment?

Also, is it normal for the hairs to still be attached after a laser treatment? I’m trying to just leave everything alone but I pulled at a couple of hairs just to see if they would slide out and they seem to still be attached (I’m not plucking them.) I can’t really compare to my last treatment, as I left everything alone and the hairs shed out on their own.

I’m probably over thinking and over worrying - my last treatment with the same tech, settings and laser went very well and I was very happy with the results. I think reading this forum has just made me all the more aware of the potential for bad or ineffective treatments lol.

#10

Redness around the follicles is a good sign.

Yes, you can take whatever painkiller you like.

Yes. Shedding usually doesn’t start until week 1.5 or so and continues for about 3 weeks.

#11

Thank you! That puts my mind at ease. Can’t wait till it all falls out. :slight_smile:

#12

Be careful what you take. Aspirin is a photosensitive medication. I take low dose aspirin daily and have never had a problem. You should just be aware.

#13

Oh thanks for the tip. I took Aspirin before my treatment today and everything seems to be alright. Treatment #2 is all done now.

#14

I’m probably an idiot for even considering this, but how bad of an idea would it be to wax off the hair that hasn’t shed out yet? I screwed up the timing on my treatment and I go on vacation tomorrow and would really like to not have to worry about shaving at all.

Underarms are almost completely shed out, and the legs and bikini line are getting there, but they’re far from done, and I’m dreading being stubbly on vacation.

If it makes a difference, it’ll probably be a good while till I can afford to go for another treatment (it was a year between my first and second), and if my previous treatment was any indication, all the hair will shed out eventually so I don’t think I’d be removing anything that should be getting zapped in my next treatment. But part of me suspects that there might be a reason this is a really bad idea.

Any suggestions?

#15

Do NOT wax. There is no way to tell what hair is dead and what isn’t. You’ll put yourself in a situation where you may need more treatments overall. Shaving only after you start treatments.