hi,
i have recently had 2 treatments using IPL and it doesnt seem to be working!
i have pale skin and brown/black hair.
around my neck area and upper arms is course but other patches are fine.
what laser would you say was best for this? im thinking of changing clinics.
thanks
Have you read the FAQs? Please do so and let us know your skin type.
Laser won’t probably work well on fine hair, and I wouldn’t recommend treating fine hair on your upper arms as it can make it more coarse.
hi sorry for the late reply.
im SKIN TYPE III!
the hair on my upper arms is mostly course thats the only place im having it done i’m not going near the fine hairs as you cant really see them cause they are blonde.
it’s been nearly 3 weeks since my treatment and the hair on my upper arms is nearly all gone except for a few patches that look like stubble that havent grown for nearly 2 and abit weeks, are these peppers spots and does that mean its working?
as for my top of my back there seems to be the same thing but with some blonde hairs growing in and pepperspots, the hair there before was like dark brown. are these good signs?
thanks
I’ll try to answer this. Maybe lagirl is busy cleaning up the broken glass after the earthquake that hit Los Angeles this afternoon??? Hope to hear from her soon.
Yes, those are pepperspots and they will work their way up and out. Exfoliating helps most people or they will be burned out next treatment.
If those are blond hairs growing in, then further laser treatments will be useless. Can you be happy with lighter, less COARSE hair on your back?
yeah i suppose it wouldnt bother me as much cause the blonde hair is really fine and you cant really see it unless your looking pretty hard,and if i got a tan you wouldnt be able to see them at all.
still a some dark hair on my back that hasnt shed but i’m guessing its new hair thats come into its cycle.
thanks
Blond hairs were probably always there and you didn’t notice them with all the dark hair around. Now that the dark hair is gone, you can see the blond hairs more clearly.
All the treated hair should either shed or remain as pepperspots. If the settings were high enough, the hair was killed for good. It’s impossible to tell at this point, but you do know that it was affected. Whatever is growing as usual at this point, probably wasn’t.
Of course, I hope you realize that you only affected the hair in one cycle of growth. There will be more hair appearing from the next growth cycle and that’s why you need multiple treatments overall.
p.s. The earthquake was in Orange County and I happened to be there for a trade show. I was actually at Disneyland in line for an hour when it happened! They closed all the rides for several hours.
So glad all is well with you,lagirl. What a fortunate place to be for an earthquake event. Better to be in line for an hour than on an actual ride. Oh, yal.
It has been my experience that when treating a large surface area,patchy areas are the norm. Generally it is because those hairs were not in the active growing phase(which is necessary when treating hairs with IPL,laser or electrolysis).It is important that treatments are scheduled with the cycle factor in mind. At Penn, the second treatment is approx 3 weeks after the first (just to jump start), then every 2 1/2 months.
About 20% overlapping should occur when treating with laser,so there are no gaps.
Janet C.E.
Sorry, but what you’re saying about treatment times and patchiness doesn’t make sense. All treated hair sheds, no matter what phase it’s in. And it takes a lot longer than 3 weeks for the new hair to develop and be ready to be treated again. If you are really concerned with jumpstarting treatments for your clients, you should recommend they wax the area before they start treatments.
During laser treatments all hairs are hit/treated,but not all of them have the disired end result of long term reduction.I have worked with several board certified dermatologist over the last ten years, and all have had the same issues with patchiness when the client returns for their next visit. Ultimately when the recommended amount of treatments are finished the end result is satisfing for most.All patients must shave the area before treatments,not waxing. The hair acts as a target for the joules.Without the target,the 810 wave length is absorbed in the skin,not a pretty site…We jump start large areas such as the back because initialy there is more hair then say on their third visit. After the jump, we schedule every 2-3 months there after.
On the second visit, we are not treating new growth but hairs that were not in anagen 3 weeks earlier. Hopefully I have cleared any misunderstanding.
Janet, CE
That is an interesting theory Janet. If I am understanding you correctly the 2nd treatment is 3 weeks after the first, and the third is 6 weeks after the second treatment? After the 2nd treatment you schedule the rest of the treatments 6-12 weeks apart?
Do you have any specific examples for each area, or do you use the same treatment schedule for every area of the body?
I don’t understand how you’re jumpstarting. All hair is affected by the treatment no matter what stage it’s in because it’s dark. So it all should shed. Whatever didn’t shed was missed by lack of overlapping. If you’re seeing patchiness, you may want to consider overlapping by 10% and increasing settings. Of course, you have to match the highest setting possible to each person’s skin type to avoid burns.
That’s not exactly what happens. Only anagen hairs are affected by the treatments. Hairs that are not in anagen are already in the process of shedding and will shed soon whether you have a laser treatment or not. Some of the catagen and telogen hairs could be carbonized by the laser, but during those phases, the papilla, the true target, has detached from the hair, become dormant, and has stopped producing melanin.
With proper settings, there should be no anagen hairs 3 weeks after treatment #1. Hairs that just happen to start the anagen phase even one day after a laser treatment would not be visible at 3 weeks.
During laser treatments all hairs are hit/treated,but not all of them have the disired end result of long term reduction.I have worked with several board certified dermatologist over the last ten years, and all have had the same issues with patchiness when the client returns for their next visit. Ultimately when the recommended amount of treatments are finished the end result is satisfing for most.All patients must shave the area before treatments,not waxing. The hair acts as a target for the joules.Without the target,the 810 wave length is absorbed in the skin,not a pretty site…We jump start large areas such as the back because initialy there is more hair then say on their third visit. After the jump, we schedule every 2-3 months there after.
On the second visit, we are not treating new growth but hairs that were not in anagen 3 weeks earlier. Hopefully I have cleared any misunderstanding.
Janet, CE
No,we do not schedule all areas of the body like we do for the back. Let me clear up amy misunderstanding.
On the back only 20% of the hair is in anagen.
Clients return for their second treatment in 3 weeks to treat hairs(and there are many) that were not in anagen,again about 20%. The third and treatments there after are scheduled every 2-3 months(closer to three) because the growth rate for the back is 2-3 months.
The upper lip is treated every 4 weeks as is the chin.
Bikini is every 4 weeks. I hope my explaination has satisfied those in questioning.
Janet
i dont get complete shedding 3 weeks after my sessions, i asked them at the clinic and they said that only the hair in anagen stage will shed, but because i’ve been reading this forum i decided to visit another clinic and they said that all treated areas should shed fully. so i had a patch test at this other place. but i dont think they had the settings high enough from what you have all said the settings need to be higher for increased shedding.
I had my bikini done at high settings. There is nothing to treat at 4 weeks as at 3 weeks all the hair sheds.
Are you telling me that after only one treatment all the hairs on your bikini are gone? Shedding after laser treatment(shedding is not the correct term but for simplicity I’ll use it)usully manifests in 7-10 days.
No, I’m saying that every time I had a bikini treatment (and I had a total of 6), all the hair shed within 3 weeks and there was nothing yet to treat at 4 weeks. It took a 8-12 weeks after every treatment for enough hair to appear in order to get another treatment. After 6 treatments on GentleLASE with settings of 16 and up on 18mm, I had a 95% reduction.
I would say you are very fortunate to be able to go 8-12 weeks before needing another laser treatment. We have used Gentlelase in the past and are now using LightSheer (diode). 16 joules and a pulse width of 18? -correct?
Our standard course of treatment for bikini is every 4 weeks and on an average 4-5 treatments. Now everyone is different-some clients require less,some more. Some clients can get away with every 6 weeks,but that is generally after 3 treatments. When the quantity of hair diminishes,we will increase the joules,providing the skin can handle it,and with less charring,and heat the client does very well