Patchy laser face

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hi everyone. I have been rather reluctant to post here, but since I have been reading here nonstop for 7 weeks, I’d thought I’d share my experiences/results. A week and a half ago I had my second laser hair removal on my face. I have fair white skin, and corse black hair. From what I have been reading, especially from LAGirl, my results are going to be determined by the type of laser, experience of te tech, settings they use, and how much testosterone I have. I don’t know if I ever would have started this process had I known my face would look like this, but after reading more and more, I’m starting to realiaze that my face should not be this patchy. I know that the type of laser is a candela gentlelase. I am not sure of the settings, however last week I asked her if she could increase the settings, and she said no she does not want to burn my skin. Now I don’t know what settings were used, but I will say it really hurts bad. After reading that my patchiness could be caused by the settings, I called them up and I was told they could switch me to the yag and use higher settings.

I should note this place is a far way from where I live, and the only reason I am going to them is because I purchased a groupon and am getting good results on the other areas I am having treated. So I thought I would try the face. I don’t know what I am looking for in my post though, I think just support, because I am pretty sure I know exactly what LAGirl is going to say. I have leaned so much from her and everyone else here, and I thank you all for this. When I go in for my next treatment which is this Thursday (to get other areas done , not my face) I will get the setting they are using and record them here.

Thank you all.

#2

You can always call and ask for the settings used. The gentlelase can normally get a good reduction on the cheeks and neck, though the chin and upper lip don’t work as effectively, and for that you would need a YAG. In my experience, patchiness on the beard is more of an issue with the tech person rather than the settings (though low settings can also be an issue). If it makes you feel better, I was a little patchy after my first two treatments, but then a couple more brought the patchiness down quite a bit (it’s still not perfectly even, so I will eventually go for electrolysis).

I don’t know how far away this place is from you, but someone on another hair removal forum recommended this place in Florida:

Laser Center of South Florida - Located in Port St. Lucie, Florida

#3

Have you, or any other male have any other places done, such as legs and chest,stomach, butt? would these places have better results?

#4

Lucky for you I have done all of those haha. It really comes down to how coarse and dense the hair is. Where the hair tends to be coarses, I’ve noticed a greater reduction (like the arms and legs), but where the hair is finer like the stomach and butt, I’ve had some reduction but not as much. I’ve done one treatment on the legs so far, and I’ve already noticed a little bit of a reduction (I’ll probably stop the lower legs after the second treatment because I like having some hair there, but a reduction). I recommend you post a picture of the area you want to have treated so we can help give you an idea for much reduction you may get.

Generally, the beard is the only places I’ve really experienced any patchiness (my dermatologist said it’s because that area is so hormonally controlled), but poor tech skills on any area will cause some patchiness (I had some patchiness on my legs as well, but it’s much less noticeable than on the face, and now that it’s been awhile since I’ve done laser on it, the remaining hair has grown and has basically filled in all the patches.) Since hair follicles tend to be denser on the beard, there is in fact a greater risk of burn.

#5

I just found out what settings they used. For the first 2 times on my face, they use a candela gentle lase with a 18 spot size at 10 joules. Is this good? It has been 2 weeks and I almost am hair free on my cheeks, and still shedding every day. My neck and chin is still there alot. She said she will consider increasing the energy next time around.

She is scheduling me every 7 weeks for my face, and it s been 2 weeks since my second one.

Also, I was just reading another post by LAGirl about how this 10 setting might be fairly low settings on this gentlelase laser with 18mm. I really want this to work because I am spending alot of time and money on this. Thanks to you guys, I got up the courage to ask them to do higher settings. My tech is just worried about my skin. She said since this is just the fiest couple of times, my skin just needs to get used to it, and that next time she will go higher, to a 12 maybe.

What I am really wondering is, even at the 10 setting, I have lost alot of hair on my face after 2 treatments. If its shedding and does not regrow, does that mean I have a pretty good chance it has permanitly gotten it?

And what if she never goes up on the settings, would my treatments at low settings ruin my chance of going somewhere else that is better and will do higher settings? I want to continue going here because I have already paid for a package for many places of my body, and they are giving me such an awesome deal. I wouldnt even be able to afford going anywhere else for at least 5 months, and by then I will have had 3 or 4 treatments. Would getting these treatments at low settings ruin my chances of getting perminant results later down the road from someone else?

Im just kind of really freaking out alot, and I cannot stop thinking about it. I really want this to work and reading every day on this forum is making me depressed.

#6

I’m not a laser expert just a consumer. I did not treat my face with gentle lase but had chest treatments. From reading about settings and stuff, I’d say 10j on 18mm spot is too low. I did hear that 12j-14j on 18mm spot for neck/facial has worked on people. Ideally you should try to convince your tech to start doing treatments at higher settings 14-16j. If she is scared to burn you with higher settings, make her give you a test spot at the desired settings so she won’t be hesitant to raise the joules. Post your photos here and let people help you evaluate your skin type, hair density. There was a thread here once about a guy who had very patchy results so he switched to a clinic that was doing touch ups every week to clean up his mess and he was doing fine after. I hope it does work out for you. If there is an option to switch to a clinic that is confident to user higher settings I would seriously consider it–especially since you’re dealing with the face. Because even if you keep shedding at 10j, it is not a guarantee that your hair roots are being killed off permanently. Best of luck!

#7

Thank you anotherdude for responding to me. I had my have had my chest treated 1 time so far with them, and they used the same settings 18mm 10j. She said We have to start low so the skin can get used to it? I am pretty white so I hardly doubt I would burn. And it hurt like hell, so I’m guessing it worked somewhat?

I just found out there is a laser place near where I live, and I made an appt. to get her opinion on what she thinks about my situation. Only thing is, I have already prepaid for a package , and I still have 5 left on my face, and 5 left on chest. Does this mean it is pretty much worthless for me to keep going there unless they can immediately start using a 14-16 or higher setting? I think I could get her to a 12 on my face next time. But it is seeming like she is wanting to go up with the settings incrementally.

I am just wondering, has the low settings on my face for 2 treatments, ruined my chances for permanent removal forever, even if they start increasing the settings in the future? Should I continue to try and coerce them for better settings, or just forget them but lose all my money as well? This is really beginning to make me sad…

#8

Here are 2 pictures. One is of my face taken today, I haven’t shaved in 1 week. The second is of my chest before my first laser treatment, it was thicker than that because it was still growing in as I had shaved it a few weeks back.

qwerty Attachments

Face
face.jpg

chest.jpg

#9

The face one doesn’t look overly patchy, I consider patchy more when a whole area has been missed but it doesn’t seem that way. 10j is pretty low for 18mm, and I’m not sure why they would do 18 on the face anyway it’s sort of big and too large for upper lip for example. 15mm at 25 joules or so would be better but depends what you can handle. Your skin looks dark as well so you might be too dark for GentleLase and may need a Yag.

I had to mix it up, I did a few sessions on my face with alex first but chin and upper lip were stubborn, they would shed but not completely. Then we switched to Yag and I’d get almost full shedding since it goes deeper. I’ve done prob 8 sessions with yag. I’ve now switched back to alex just because the hair on my cheeks and neck were getting finer. We did 15mm on the alex Apogee elite and surprisingly all the hair on my chin and upper lip shed this time. I then did another treatment 2 months or so later and same thing full shedding. So mixing it up seemed to help for me.

#10

What makes me sad is that I asked her if she can treat me with their candela yag laser, and she said they are pretty much the same and the lase can go just as deep as the yag… And from what I’m reading here, i really want to have the yag done on my face…

However…There’s another laser place with a cool glide yAg that is close to where I live, I have a consultation in a couple weeks with her to get her opinion. I will probably do like you did and do both her yag, and the other places gentle lase. They just are really hesitant to give me higher settings right now. Even though I am shedding, still am i wasting my time? Should i try and ask for a refund? They are only charging me $300 for 6 treatments on my face and $300 for 6 on my chest, and same for legs and butt, braz… I wouldn’t really be able to afford any other place as this is what most places charge per session. I can probably afford to just do my face with the new place i found in town, but that would be all i could afford for now. So should I continue going with the lower settings for everywhere else on my body? Would the lower settings make it any harder for a more experienced laser tech later on down the road to treat them if or when they grow back? Im just mostly concerned with them growing back so thin that by the time i can afford to go somewhere else that laser would be ineffective and i would have to switch to electrolysis.

If it’s just going to take a few more treatments then normal at my current settings then I don’t mind, has any one personally been treated on lower settings that has course thick hair and had successful long term results? Like I said I’m already most hairless on my cheeks and that’s only after 2 treatments, it appears to be working. I need professional advice please.

#11

Anyone?

#12

I had full-body laser hair removal using a Candela GentleLase over seven years ago. I experienced more than a 95% elimination of hair. I have very fair Irish skin and the hair was black and medium-coarse and responded very well to the laser.

#13

That’s very good, but did you know what settings they used? I too am having good results so far, and hope that even with the low settings it remains gone as long as yours has. Also are you guy or girl? Thanks.

#14

I have used/owned a (cool glide) yag, a (lightsheer) diode and a(gentlelsse) yag gentlelase alex. I have the similar skin color to you. I thought I had the best results with the alex hands down!!! I generally used 18mm 10j 50/50 and 18mm 12j 50/50. Depending on the area. I did about 8 treatments complete body and haven’t shaved in at least 11 years. This is true to most my patients. All light hairs or fine hairs are done with electrolysis. I my face did not work well with laser but a little.

#15

I’d really suggest yag for the first several treatments, it will get the darkest coarsest hair and give a reduction first, then you can switch to alex to get finer hairs and so on. As the other poster mentioned during the first several treatments, its really hard to get chin and upper lip to shed with alex. Because I used alex a lot first then switched to yag, I have about an 80% reduction on my cheeks, 90% on my neck, and maybe 40% on my upper lip and chin. However for me it’s not too bad because it’s literally the goatee area, so if I don’t shave for a week it looks like I purposely shaved that way.