Looking for advice on which laser to use & referrals in San Francisco

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

I just got started looking into laser hair removal for my face and have become overwhelmed with all the different methods. I have light to “tanned” skin and my facial hair is dark and coarse on my chin and slightly lighter and thinner under my lip. So far I have looked into 3 different places that use the following Lasers:

  1. San Francisco Plastic Surgery & Laser Center run by Usha Anne Rajagopal, MD and they use 3 different lasers depending on skin type – LIGHTSHEER DIODE LASER made by Lumens Corporation – used to treat patients with light to medium tone or Asian skin. LASERSCOPE LYRA and ALEXANDRITE LASER by Cynosure.

  2. A private practice Nurse who came by referral who uses the StarLux by Palomar.

  3. Dermatologist Vic Narurkar, MD of Laser and Cosmetic Dermatology in SF who uses on of Palomar Pulsed Light systems.

Any comments on the above lasers or practitioners would be helpful. Also, if anyone has a referral for laser hair removal in San Francisco or the Bay Area in general, that would also be great.

Thanks in advance!!

#2

definitely choose the #1 place out of these options. LightSheer is a good laser for your skin type. Both of the other places offer IPL devices. They take longer to achieve results and a lot of times not as successful as true lasers. You can find out more information on that by searching the board. But out of those, hands down, place #1. Also, the fact that they offer various lasers to cater to different skin types is one of the good signs that they know what they’re doing instead of pitching that whatever their one and only laser that they bought will work on everyone the same, which is not true.

#3

Thanks for the advice ~ I appreciate it!

#4

I agree, the first place would be your best choice. If your skin is medium or lighter, the Lightsheer will work but will be extremely painful on the face if you have coarse hair. I have used the Sciton and Lyra-i Nd:YAG lasers on my beard which used to be very dense. I highly recommend the Lyra for the beard. It is very effective on coarse hair and will result in the least amount of post-treatment swelling and redness compared to the other lasers. The Lyra is painful too but I found it to be tolerable without anesthetic.

RJC2001