Light Sheer vs Lyra-i

I’ve had a few consult appointments and test spots by a few different lasers. The first was with a long pulsed q-switched yag, and I swear the hair is thicker in that area. Next I had 4 spots done with a light sheer and finally with a Lyra-i yag.

Here is my quandry. I’ve gathered that the lyra is the better laser for my type III-IV skin. It has less post treatment reddness and I guess is less painful. My concern though is that the beam tip is 4mm circle in size which seems like it would translate into a lot more zaps and increased likelyhood for missing spots.

The light sheer is a about 1/2 inch square. It seems like that would be fewer zaps of the laser and less likelyhood of missing spots.

Having had treatments with both, I think the hair has definately come out with the lightsheer. I still need to give the Lyra a little more time. It just makes me a little nervous with the lyra being such a small area.

Any thoughts?

you’re looking at this correctly. so basically i would judge on the experience of the tech if you decide to go with the Lyra. LightSheer is better in a sense that it would work better later on finer hair that remains after first couple of treatments. although, you didn’t say what area you are treating. Lyra is probably better for the face for example.

Yes, it is for my face. I’m only slightly dubious of the Lyra tech. I have confidence in the LightSheer place. Of course the LS is twice the price. Why is the Lyra better for my face?

The Lyra-i has larger spot sizes available. 4mm is kind of small. They will need to use higher fluences with the small spot size. A 10mm spot is available and that is what they should be using for the beard hair removal.

The Lyra-i will have less post treatment redness and swelling than the Lightsheer. Plus that wavelength (1064nm) penetrates deeper into the hair follicle. If you can tolerate the Lighstheer though it can work very well for you.

RJC2001

She mentioned the larger size but said that she didn’t think I could handle the pain associated with it. Are you saying that you can use lower fluences with the larger spot size? What does getting deeper into the hair follicle do? The LightSheer appears to have removed the hair in the spots that she did it. I certainly was red for a good week afterwards though. Anything to help combat this? I guess there is aloe and ice packs.

larger spot size doesn’t really mean more pain. it actually means that you will be done faster (i.e. less time IN pain) because larger areas are being covered with each laser beam shot. the smaller the spot size, the higher the settings can be adjusted normally. being red for a week is not completely normal, with Lyra it will probably be 1-3 days tops. so unless you don’t mind the redness for a week, Lyra will be nicer for you.