Pitanga Problems?

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
1

Does anyone have problems with the Pitanga (Syneron) with erractically burning. It seems the machine will from time to time start burning clients, even though the same settings were used in several previous visits. This happens quite often. The machine is then sent back for repair, it will work for a couple of month then again it happens. This has been going on for a while and I’ve had understanding clients BUT I’m getting annoyed!! The burns readily go away but it’s stressing me!

Anyone else? Or did I get a lemon?

2

You are BURNING clients and YOU are getting annoyed??? And then you come on to a consumer site and ask for advice???

Bloody glad I dont come to you for hair removal

3

this is insane, you should stop using the machine if its burning people, it’s people’s money and time that is being wasted, plus their skin is at risk.

4

why aren’t you using a true hair removal laser instead of this IPL anyways? I’m curious as to how you made the decision to get this machine vs others.

5

What better place than a consumer site to get honesty?

This machine works on hair that other machine don’t. Fine hair and white hair as well as very dark people. This is the reason I went with this model. I get people that have done 12 treatments at other places with minimal results and with just 2 treatments they are done with this device. The very few that have gotten burnt are superfical and totally disappear after 1 week, similar to a sunburn. They don’t get a COMPLETE burn, only a small 1/2" x 1/2". All have returned because of the effectiveness and results.

And BELIEVE me it is VERY stressfull

6

Stressful for who? I think that you should be talking to an engineer and not consumers about your problems.

And then you COMPLETELY discredit yourself by trying to tell us that this IPL can remove fair and white hair. I don’t believe you. You can tell me again and again and argue your case, but I will still not believe you, so dont even try.

7

You give people results in 2 treatments? Can you explain how exactly you know that they got results and not just stopped coming because they weren’t getting any? Due to hair growth cycles, it’s basically impossible to get clearance in only 2 treatments. So yes, I’m a bit sceptical here.

Same question applies to treating white hair. As far as the industry is concerned, there is no machine on the market that actually does that. Yes, there are claims that some manufacturers make that their machines do. Butt if you read through these forums, you won’t find ANY posts from anyone who actually got results on white, blond, or grey hair. How do you know that they didn’t just stop coming in? I must say your claims are very extraordinary and truly impossible to believe.

8

I own a E-light by Syneron - it is Elos technology. It works amazing. I had a lady in yesterday for example who went to a number of laser clinics for facial hair removal with little success. She is North European, fair skin with lots of fine hair. She came in yesterday for her second treatment and there was a huge difference in 1 treatment (her last treatment was 6 weeks ago). I now will be doing the rest of her body and am getting a number of referals from her. Radiofrequency makes a huge difference with any IPL treatment. My machine goes up to 45J of light energy 25J of RF - there is simply not much that it doesn’t kill. I have had HUGE success with Red hair. White hair is not as great (even white hair will often have some colour in the root) but damaging it so it is finer makes a difference and if the skin is pale enough it can be killed. Blond hair is done quite effectively but you have to really pretest well as I have to make a number of passes before killing blond hair. There is lots of work involved.

The “burning” that you may be experiencing could well be arching - if the head isn’t flat the RF factor can increase up to 50% - and / or if the jell isn’t evenly applied it can mark. RF without jell will superficially burn the skin. Again these types of “burns” are resolved within a couple of days and look more like a hive (small red inflamation).

The woman that came in yesterday had a spot on her chin the last treatment (it was a strong treatment) that resolved itself in a day or two. She could care less as her results were steller and it didn’t leave a mark (I have never marked anyone and I have been doing laser for many many years).

I have used lots of machines and had many “lasers” on me and I wouldn’t trade mine for anything. It kills hair great and the skin rejuvenation - well there is no comparison to other equipment.

As for people “just not coming in”. My girls have worked at a number of high profiled laser clinics and have not seen as high of success rate as myself. In fact most people who are really satisfied with their face return for other body parts. I have followed up with enough clients over the years to know that fine and blond hair can be killed. You just have to know what you are doing and one pass doesn’t do it.

9

Again, I think you are being less than honest here, as I explained in another post on another thread. Are you fishing for business here? I apologize for sounding rough, but I have extreme doubt about your stated outcomes. Is the E-light system a newer generation than the Aurora?

10

As Dee said, I will apologise in advance for sounding harsh but I would like you to explain a couple of things to me about your post.

The way in which IPL’s and Lasers work is through targetting pigment, which can take the form of melanin in the hair and the skin (hence why for example, someone with skin V could not really be treated with a wavelength of 755nm). So how exactly does the IPL pick up blonde and white hair? You mention radio frequency, yet there is no solid evidence that radio frequency can permanently desroy hair follicles or at least not to my knowledge and I haven’t come across any mention of radio frequency by the FDA either, or at least in the context of permanent hair removal. Would you care to enlighten me how this wonder machine manages to PERMANENTLY reduce hair types that the light being emitted cannot pick up.

I’m also wondering about the specifications of your machine, I have yet to come across an IPL with a 18mm spot size, the ability to go down to 3ms (SAFELY) along with a host of other specifications that a laser such the Candella GentleLASE has.

What are the specifications on your machine:
Wavelength?
Minimum pulse?
Maximum joules capability and so on?

That is if you are using something brand new that Syneron has released or are you still using the same Syneron IPL that has been out for the last couple of years?

Your posts are sounding quite salesy at the moment, with the promotion of laser and your attempts at undermining electrolysis. Please can you remain as unbiased as possible as this is the whole purpose of this site - a source of truthful, unbiased information. Oh and if you do not know the capabilities of a certain hair removal method such as electrolysis, I would suggest that you refrain from going “Oh no! You shouldn’t do that”.

Regards,
Benji

11

Sorry, but your story doesn’t sound belieavable. We’ve yet to see anyone have great results with an Elos system on the forum on coarse hair in years, let along red and white hair. Run a search.

Plus, as an LHR professional, you should realize that 6 weeks after the first treatment is no way to judge the results. You never mentioned shedding for example. If I were you and really cared about my customer’s results, I wouldn’t let them start and pay you for treatments on other areas at this point yet. 6 weeks after 1 treatment is no way to tell the final results of these treatments. If you’re so confident in these treatments, have her add on other areas once she’s completely satisfied with her face treatment and sees a permanent reduction.

12

Just remembered, forget about the pulse as that is not applicable to the eLight laser by Syneron.

Regards,
Benji

13

Just thought I would throw out some comments.

A year and half ago we started a test with the Syneron system. We had about a dozen clients who we treated with a Candela Alex on one side and the syneron on the other, and that was randomly determined. We did bikinis and underarms (and a few other sites like back of the neck). We also did pre and post treatment photos. These included people with gray hair, blonde hair, and red hair. Also people with mixed black and gray hair.

We treated each person four times over a ten month period. About every 8 to 10 weeks give or take a little. The candela settings were based on our protocols. The Syneron settings were based on the Syneron rep who came with the machine (we borrowed it from Syneron a few days at a time) and on their protocols.

At the end, I evaluated each client, not knowing which side was treated with the candela and which side was treated with the Syneron. Then after evaluating the sides, we compared the pre and post treatment pictures and then broke the code. So this was basically a single blinded study. Single because I didn’t know what side was treated with which machine, but the clients and the manager running the study did. But I was the one making the determination and I was blind to which side was which.

First, clients preferred the Candela. They uniformly thought the Syneron was more painful. Second, our staff much preferred the Candela, they thought it was easier to use. But again, this was not blinded. So they may have been biased.

As far as results. These were looked at something like 3 to 4 months after the final treatment. The candela side was uniformly much better than the syneron anywhere there was hair that had pigment and not red. For example, a typical underarm on the candela side would have 5-10 hairs and the syneron side would have 20 to 30 hairs. And this pattern held. The conclusion was that the syneron worked on dark hair but not nearly as efficiently as the candela alex.

As to red, white, or blond hair. On the alex side, we saw not a bit of difference between the pre and post pictures. And on the Syneron side, we also didn’t see a bit of difference. What was interesting were a few clients who had mixed white and black hair. With one client on the back of his neck, almost all the black hair on the alex side was gone, leaving just the white hair. While on the Syneron side, most of the black hair was still there as was the white hair.

Our conclusion was that the Syneron IPL technology works but was not as efficient as the alexandrite technology for removing black hair and the RF technology was worthless.

Now maybe we weren’t using the RF technology properly? Maybe we needed to do more passes or something different? But since we were doing what the Syneron Rep said we should do and he was present the entire time, I don’t feel like we didn’t give the Syneron machine a fair trial.