lightsheer on back. not seeing results.....

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

i am a laser technician with a lightsheer, spot size 9mm. i have been treating a young chaldean man, age 27, on his back. he has significant hair growth to start. it is very thick on shoulders, upper back, and flanks, then is thinner on lower back. his skin type is a IV, and he has been staying out of the sun. i have treated him 3 times now between 18-25 joules/30 pulse. after each treatment, all the hair sheds, and he does go through periods of time with virtually no hair.he is coming in every 10 weeks.

the problem is that the hair keeps coming back, with only very little reduction with each session. 3 sessions into it, i would say he only has 15-20% reduction. he is in incredible pain during each session, and the emla cream doesnt seem to help at all. basically, i want him to be happy with the results, and we just dont seem to be getting anywhere.

my question is, i dont knwo why he is not getting results. should i continue with it, because he is in so much pain, he realy doesntw ant to do it anymore unless it starts getting better. any suggestions on what to do next? i really appreciate any help that you can give me :slight_smile:

#2

Hi,

It’s great to see a technician coming to the forum for help. We wish more of you would participate here!

My first thought is that the settings are low. 9mm is a small spot size already, and anything under 25 joules is just very weak on LightSheer.

The thinner hair is not likely to be affected, but the coarse dense growth should be at high enough settings if you’re using compression and up and down method (no gliding). I wouldn’t use anything under 25J and I would even try decreasing the pulse a bit if his skin can handle it.

Is the bulk of the reduction you’re seeing on the coarse growth? I would guess that to be the case.

How long do you leave EMLA on? If it’s on for an hour, it should be helping a lot more than what it sounds like. Have you tried icing as well?

#3

i dont glide, and i dont use gel at all. and i have been compressing. i am just afraid to burn him at higher joules. and he is in so much pain the higher the setting, that i really havent pushed it to much. but i guess i should do a few test areas and see if his skin reacts ok.

its just SO frustrating! it takes so long to treat him, and, quite frankly, we both dread the sessions.

i really like my lightsheer, but i am wondering if there is a better machine out there to treat these darker skin, hairy middles eastern men! i just cant take it anymore!

thanks for you help, i will try some test areas on him and hopefully we start seeing improvement.

#4

May i ask why not using gel?

#5

One of the reasons it takes long is also due to the 9mm spot size. There are definitely better machines out there. Candela machines are some of the best on the market for example and all come with 18mm spot sizes. That’s double what you’re using now, so treatments would be over in half the time just from that. GentleLASE is their machine for light skin and GentleYAG is for darker skin. GentleMAX is a new one that combined both alex and YAG in one machine.

Icing really helps with the pain. You should try it before and after the sessions.

#6

The only machine that is considered fast and painless is the Soprano XL. If you got the funds you should check it out.

#7

How many stones would be thrown at me if I remind everyone that the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) considers advertising LASER treatments as “Painless” to be… lets just say “Improper”. (I know that I would be tarred and feathered if I used their actual quote.)

#8

Odi, it’s not “considered” that by anyone but the Soprano manufacturers who put that in their glossy materials. EFFECTIVE treatments are never painless. And the fastest treatments would be by GentleLASE because the spot size is the biggest at 18mm and covers the largest area.

#9

It’s considered that by anyone who had a treatment done and it is MUCH faster than any spot size you may have. Spot size is irrelevant when it comes to the Soprano XL.

Not trying to be rude or anything but please try a treatment with it, you are basing yourself on older technology.

I’m not selling those machines by the way, i actually REALLY hate the manufacturer.

#10

Spot size is not irrelevant on any machine. The size of the head of the machine is what determines the area it covers. I understand that you’re using the gliding method, but that doesn’t take away from that fact. Not to mention that gliding generally causes a lot of missed spots.

Everyone who had treatments done by this machine and posted on this forum saw little result. You also haven’t seen permanent results yet since you just started using the machine AND you treat every 6 weeks making it impossible to tell what you actually killed if anything.

#11

I Didn’t say it was irrelevant to any machine, obviously if you have something done in 10min with a 12mm spot size then you could have done the same for less time with a bigger spot size.

Usually IPLs have a much bigger spot size than true lasers, does it make them better? No.

#12

You’re going off topic. We were only talking about speed, and you brought it up. I never said fast is necessarily better. Fast AND effective is what we’re going for.

#13

Odi, spot size doesn’t just pertain to how much skin is covered with each pulse. The larger the spot size, the deeper the laser penetrates. The papilla of coarse hairs is easier to target with the larger spot sizes. This is why 18mm is preferred, not because it can cover more territory in few pulses.

#14

Thank you Choice, i didn’t know that.