Is it normal for the face to have streaks and patches after laser hair removal?
I went through a 6 treatment series with the lightsheer. All settings were around 30. I had a few touch ups–that only made the problem worse. (I am 35 year old man.)
it’s not normal, but this is a possibility on a dense hormone-stimulated area like the face on a man if they’re not overlapping properly and being very precise during treatments. do you have a picture? do you know what pulse and spot size were used? I’m assuming 30 is the joules.
The spot size was 12mm I believe. I am not sure as to pulse.
I was told overlapping was not the issue since the series was completed and touch ups were done.
At first the spots were definitely in the shape of the laser head. Now they are much more blurred. The cheek area is by far the worst.
where did you get this done btw? was shedding patchy as well every time? even if you get touchups, the hairs will be out of phase already. it helps a bit, but it’s most important to overlap by at least 10% during the actual treatment. Did they warn you that this was a possibility? How experienced was the person performing it?
oh dear, another story where its not worked on the face. i really do want to get this done but it just doesnt seem to work on a mans face which is a shame because there really is no other option. ok so its worked on 1 or 2 people, hooray, but the chances are its going to look stupid. la girl, it surely cant be down to not overlapping, bad machine or bad technician again. hmmm im really not sure.
one thing is for sure it would be really good to see some pictures as no-one has yet posted any on this yet? how strange can it possibly look?
maybe this is the one place it just doesnt work.
someone has posted a picture of this before. it’s somewhere in older posts. this area is hard to treat. considering that a lot of people don’t know what they’re doing even on simple areas to treat, this isn’t suprising. The hair on this area is very dense, so even slight missing of spots can result in patchiness as opposed to other areas where it is not necessarily that noticeable. I would also opt for a Yag laser (because it will mostly target the most coarse hair, which is what you want anyways) if I had to do this and find someone who has experience in treating this area in particular on men. And even I you get this done, I wouldn’t expect anywhere near a complete clearance. I would only do this to reduce the density of hair so that it’s easier to shave etc.
yeah i agree, personally what i really want would be for the majority of hair to turn lighter and not as dense, perhaps how it was when i was 16-18 years old. it was very easy to shave back then.
i saw some pictures of a transgender male to female where it looked like they were getting a good even result, but bearing in mind they are probably taking medicine to lower their testosterone levels.
it interesting you (lagirl) think a yag laser would be best, can you explain the difference between this and a good laser like gentlelase?? definately something i will bear in mind though.
Yag lasers work best on coarse hair and usually pass by the finer hair with their longer wavelength (1064nm vs 755nm on an alex). That would also cause less irritation after the treatment.
I had it done by my dermatologist. The hair loss was always patchy. It got less defined (shape of laser head) as treatment went on (because the spots became more irregular and overlapped).
The derm did not specifically say patches and streaks would be the end result. He was honest enough to tell me that for a middle age man’s beard the result would not be like the pictures. I never thought to ask: “is a possible result patches and streaks?”–not when all the pictures show hairless skin.
I actually started crying at my last follow-up appointment and told him I look like a freak. He was concerned and starting explaining that laser is not permanent–or that it is, but that it only means a year or two? I think he was just trying to make me feel better.
scardeycat, i think that the hair will probably grow back at the most by two years from now, there have been previous post where men have had their faces treated up to 12 times and its grown back in a couple of years.
not to sure if this would work, but surely you can just wait untill the patches of hair are in the correct growth cyle and then have that area treated wouldnt that just make it look more natural??? is the hair left softer and easier to shave at all??
i was talkin to my friend who is 25 and has hardly any body hair at all and he was saying how his beard grew in patches and that he really hated it, so i guess having a patchy beard doesnt make you look like a freak just someone who is less hairy??. just something to think about.
This is difficult. At this point, someone who is obviously not trained well enough in hair removal in particular (a possible problem with getting treated by someone whose main occupation is not hair removal) took on more than he could handle, possibly unknowingly. I would definitely demand a full refund first. Then, my suggestion would be to see a hair removal specialist in your area who has been doing this for a long time. Where are you located? Maybe we can help. I would try to use that money to have a specialist try to correct the problem with 1-2 more treatments. And if that doesn’t work, I would consider using that money for electrolysis to even out the areas.
Could you post a picture?
Also, how long has it been since your last treatment? If it’s been less than 3 months, I would wait a bit and see what grows in. Due to hair cycles, there should be some hair coming in still.
When young men talk about patchy beards they are refering to a normal varience in the density and distribution of beard hair. For instance the singer Nick Lachey comes to mind (he was married to Jessica Simpson). He has a commonly “patchy” beard–meaning his beard is light and sparse, but overall very uniform.
The pattern I have been left with is nothing like this. (My beard was of normal to thick density.) The hair loss caused by the laser is therefore very apparent; bald patches in the middle of thick stubble. The patches are very apparent much like alopecia areata of the beard. There is no uniform reduction in hair at all. Within the span of a centimeter or two it can go from pre-laser density, to bald spot, back to pre-laser density. Some bald spots are larger or smaller than that.
I did experience some hairs growing back thinner and lighter. This does not last long. They have always developed back into thick hair in a matter of months. For instance some hair around my mustache and chin came back very thin and fine at first, but now it is just as thick as before laser.
Some patches in the mustache and chin have had complete hair loss after laser. This lasted for months. However over time the bald patches sprouted very tiny hairs. I didn’t notice this until I grew my beard out for a month. I’ve watched these tiny hairs get thicker ever so slowly and proliferate. Several months later the bald patches are almost completely back to normal.
I’m not sure if this means the follicles slowly recover and go back to normal. Or only some of them? Or if the growth rate has been permanently reduced? I’ve tried to read up on it. There isn’t any data I can find measuring lasered hair past the amount of time it has been since my last treatment.
Given my experience I think more laser is likely to make the problem worse. The hairs are still out of sync after almost two years. Also, the laser was incredibly irritating to my skin. I never had a problem with acne but ever since my face gets a lot of whiteheads. The dermatogist explained the reason for that, but I forget. He recommended some medication for it, but I have chosen not to do that either.
If you are considering lasering your beard I would strongly discourage it. A problem like mine isn’t a big deal if you had your underarms or even back done. But on the thick hair of a man’s face it creates a real disfigurement.
Lagirl,
Thank you for the kind thoughts. I am very upset and this has destroyed my confidence, so I cannot post a picture. There was a picture I saw posted on here and a different picture on another forum that show similar results to mine.
The dermatologist is actually very experienced. I don’t think the procedure was the actual problem. He wasn’t good in the sense that the procedure was not explained fully. Only now am I learning things about laser that never occurred to me and were not mentioned in consultation.
I have been searching online. I read something on the FDA website stating the meaning of permanent and “reduction” verse “removal”. It is really ambiguous. Basically no one knows how long the hair loss lasts. It can be anywhere from no hair loss to many years of reduced hair growth rates. If that makes any sense to you, I’m still confused.
I haven’t gotten into the money aspect of this yet. I am more concerned about my face at this point. The doctor thinks the best approach is wait and see. It has been about two years since my last treatment. I have seen a lot of regrowth in that time. As it stands now, my van dyke area is very normal looking (whereas it was very patchy a year ago). The cheeks are still a problem however. The cheeks have filled in too over the years, but not like around the mouth.
If it’s been 2 years, I would only consider electrolysis to even things out. Also, I would look into some medications used for bald spots to stimulate hair growth on those areas…
It’s really unfortunate that this happened and I would still blame the doctor. If he knew this was a possibility to begin with, you should have been informed so you would have a choice whether to risk it or not. And if he didn’t know, than it is still his fault for being not educated enough about this - and by that I mean performing this specifically on a man’s face. I was just at my dermatologist’s who does laser today and he doesnt’ treat men’s faces for this specific reason, only the neck area.
I can understand not posting a picture because you don’t have a camera but not posting a picture because your confidence has been destroyed? Yet, you have enough confidence to have written over a half dozen long posts about this very issue? If you want real help, then you have to meet us half way and post a picture so someone can give you some real advice.
That said, I can’t say much about your issue because I haven’t seen your pictures and this is a very visual field. But I’ll venture a guess.
From your first post:
I went through a 6 treatment series with the lightsheer. All settings were around 30.
I’m willing to bet that that is your problem. Lightsheers and all diodes for that matter, are not very good on beards. Two reasons: 1) They have either a 9 X 9 mm spot or a 12 X 12 mm spot. Either way, neither spot is particular effective at deep penetration. And beard hair is quite deep. 2) The lightsheer diode is the most powerful diode on the market, but they really aren’t terribly effective due to their intrinsic nature (they have no peak power). They do OK on coarse hair, as long as it is not too deep.
Finally, 6 treatments on beards isn’t that much. We get pretty good results on beards, but it often takes quite a few more treatments. I’ve seen many guys with patchy hair on their beards after a few treatments (using more effective lasers) but those resolved themselves with more treatments. But you have to use a laser that will penetrate deep enough to effectively treat the hairs on your face.
And for all of you who are reading this, laser hair removal isn’t easy to do effectively. It takes a lot of skill, patience, and experience. Not everyone knows what they are doing. And the beard area on a man is the hardest place to treat.
sslr, would you agree with lagirl then that a yag laser would be best for the beard?? does that penetrate deep to the root? what laser do you use at your practise on mens beards?? just out of interest, roughly how many succesful treatment have you achieved and how many unsuccesfull treatments have you seen.
i really wish i lived in america i would definately go to your clinic. unfortunately i live in england and alot of research is needed before i put my face in someone elses hands.
I don’t agree with the idea that a YAG laser is best. I think that a large spot size alex is better if your skin can tolerate it. We use alexandrites and YAGs. And a large spot size YAG is better than a small spot size YAG.
Beards are the hardest to treat. Some people respond really well and others are really difficult. We have probably treated something on the order of about 200 or so beards. We actually tend to discourage beards somewhat.
How many are successful? I don’t know the number directly. My best guess is that about half of them are easily successful, about a quarter of them give up mostly because of pain, and the other quarter take a lot of effort to get to some level of success. I would also guess that almost everyone, if they are a candidate, and are properly treated will eventually be successful. But here is the caveats. It may take a ton of treatments and there still may be a few hairs here and there. Something that can easily be cleaned up with electrolysis if desired.
chris, check out posts by angel on the cosmetic enhancements forum. i believe he got his beard done on london with GentleLASE with great results (keep in mind that he is in transition and on hormones though). but could be a good lead for any future treatments you might want to have, even on other areas.
p.s. my dermatologist/lhr clinic also discourages beard treatments. he will only do the neck.
thanks lagirl, just read the posts, think angel had treatments in glasgow- i live south of england so a bit far to travel to scotland ha. but it is a chain called SK:N and they do have one in my city but obviously machines and skill of tech will be different. i honestly dont know what to do, it just seems like a really big gamble.
anyway for now im probably just going to have treatments on chest and stomach, which seem easy in comparison now. and discuss my face with tech then.
it’s best to start with one area anyway and see how it goes. chest and stomach are good areas to start with.