Need help deciding on a clinic and pigmentation ?

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hello there! I am a woman with PCOS in the 30’s. I have been shaving a full beard (sideburns, upper lip, chin, neck) for 16 years. My MD tells me my hormones are fine and the hair is normal for PCOS. Tried about 15 hours of electrolysis and they never got past one small area on my chin.

Looking to do LHR and have been reading these boards and doing research for a while. Ready to take the plunge and I have some questions. Skin type is a II or III.

Clinic 1-very women friendly environment, owned by an OBGYN. They use the Candela GentleMax laser. Experience with treating PCOS women. They noticed some hyperpigmenting on my upperlip and chin areas probably caused by tweezing and electrolysis (something that I had noticed too.) They want me to use a cream with hydroquinone (sp) for 6 weeks before they will start. Cream they sell (OBAGI) is $95. Cost for package of 6 treatments for face and neck is $1800 (this is with 20% off face and 50% off neck.) Slight feeling of sales pressure at the end of consult.

Clinic 2-Med Spa with more spa like atmosphere. They use the Candella Gentle Lase. They did not say anything about pigmentation and when I brought it up, she didn’t think it would be a big deal because I am light skinned. She said she had been doing LHR for about a year and had worked with a few PCOS ladies and they usually were harder to get results with but they were still happy with the treatment. Her cost is $600 for package of 6 with 2 complimentary follow ups within a year. Their price is low because LHR is half off for month of January AND she said my sideburns weren’t bad so she was including the neck. No pressure at this clinic.

I hadn’t read anything here about the hyperpigmenting so I wanted to get some feedback on that and any advice on which clinic to choose. Also, if anyone has any less expensive creams to recommend, would appreciate that.

Thanks so much!

#2

A skilled, modernly equipment electrologist could have cleared you and kept you cleared for the time period one needs to get through hair growth cycles, which is 9-18 months. What a shame that you had this kind of electrolysis experience. Most of my PCOS ladies are cleared within 3-5 hours and then we wait for the next group of hairs to come to the surface. I can’t see your problem, so I don’t know how long a first clearance can take for you.

I don’t like lasing for a woman’s face, but sadly, because there is a lack of skilled, well-equipped, speedy electrologists on every corner of Main Street, then some have to gamble with laser reduction, which may get the dark coarse hairs, but will most certainly leave behind the accelerated light or colorless hairs. You will still want to search for a good electrologist to do those hairs in for good.

Pigmentation can attract the laser light and burn the skin, so you want to get the skin as light as possible before treating.

#3

Hi Dee,

Thank you for your response. I really liked the electrolysis-she’d been to a school in NYC-her mom had been doing it for 35+ years, etc but she said my hairs were very stubborn and only reacted to the type of electrolysis where I had to hold the thing in my hand. She admitted that was a slower method.

I’ve attached a pic of under my chin(I think.) This is one day after shaving. I shave daily. The sides of my neck and sideburns are quite as extensive.

#4

Hey Melody, can’t do the attachment thing here. Why don’t you try uploading your image to Photobucket and then posting a link.

You will have to trust your electrologist to do electrolysis as she knows best. We are all different. You will still get permanent hair removal. My personal approach of choice is to use one of three electrolysis modes at my disposal to remove the hair as fast as humanly possible, with accuracy and great care. It sounds like she is doing blend, which is a great method even though it is slower than thermolysis.

#5

If your hair is very coarse and dense, like men’s beard growth, having laser first will benefit you in the long run since it’ll kill a good amount of hair and leave just finer sparse hairs for electrolysis.

But you need to make sure that good settings are used and that they’re only treating patches with actual dense coarse growth.

I think they’re just trying to sell you the cream. It’s not necessary to do it for laser. They can adjust the settings if they think the skin on those areas is too dark. You’re still relatively light-skinned, so it shouldn’t be a problem to treat some areas with some pigmentation.

Can you ask the second clinic about settings? Ask for spot size and joules they’re planning to use. You don’t want to be treated anywhere where they would undertreat you.

#6

Thank you both for your responses. To update this post, I had my first LHR treatment two weeks ago today. I did go with the less expensive clinic.

Amazing doesn’t even begin to describe my results. My skin is so smooth and the hair isn’t growing in as quickly. I’ve had a few days where I haven’t shaved at all (something I haven’t done since I was a child!) The hair is shedding and I don’t worry about a 5 o’clock shadow anymore.

Pain-wise, it wasn’t that bad and the fact that it was over in about 10 minutes made it more bearable. It seems to hurt most under the chin which is where the hair was thickest and most dense. I’ll take 10 minutes with LHR to 60 minutes of electrolysis any day.

I still have 5 treatments remaining and I’m sure I’ll need to touch up some spots with electrolysis but I no longer feel like a prisoner to my facial hair. I greatly appreciate the feedback and advice offered on this website. I promise to post again once treatment is done. My confidence has improved tremendously. I can’t even describe how much my facial hair held me back and how happy I am right now. For a woman with thick, dense, male-like beard growth, I think LHR is the best removal option.

#7

Your happiness is our happiness, too. Being this is the first session and you have several more to go, yes, please do come back and tell your story as it unfolds.

What laser system are you using?

#8

Thanks, Dee! She is using the Candela GentleLase.

Also forgot to mention about the pigmentation. I found out what the active ingredient in the $95 cream was (hdryoquinone) and then went to Wal-Mart and purchased the same thing (well almost the same-their was 4% hydroquinone and mine is 2%) for $5 and it is working to slowly fade the darkness above my upper lip. Doing research on these things has really helped my budget.

#9

Thanks for the update. We look forward to following your progress!

Also, it’d be great to know the settings: spot size and joules.