PPx Aesthera

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#21

RJC2001 I think I am going to go with it although I don’t like the idea it’s a ipl not a laser. They say that laser targets specific deepness where Light source not. I want to try PPX because like you said there was no redness after treatment right?

Zero redness with neither the Aesthera nor the Nd:YAGs.

It is possible that my leg hair is starting to shed from the Aesthera. I shaved my legs with a blade yesterday morning. Normally I can feel a little bit of stubble after about 24 hours. But when I woke up this morning I could not feel the stubble. Either I got an unusually close shave yesterday or my hair is starting to shed. I shave my legs every day so it’s hard for me to tell how much I am shedding. But I did not need to shave this morning.

The blue-green wavelengths of the Aesthera have a higher melanin absorption than the IR wavelengths of hair removal lasers. The Pneumatic energy from the Aesthera PPx stretches the skin and brings the hair bulb closer to the surface:

How it works.

Also the larger spot size of the aesthera will provide deeper penetration.

RJC2001

#22

hi,

jsut came back from my first consultation…the doctor didnt seem too keen to answer my questions…he was rather abrupt…i cant figure out if thats cuz hes done so many that he doesnt have patience for answering questions of if he was shady…

he said he’d give me 8-10 treatments for my upperlip chin area every two weeks. isnt that too close together?

he also said he’d use 14j…i forgot to ask about the pulse length. hes using the lumenis lightsheer.

he did a test patch under my chin and it zinged a bit…and its still a little tender now about an hour later. Also there was a gross burning smell afterwards…

also he mentioned i should be shaving in between treatments.

any thoughts anyone? im not sure if hes got teh right attitude towards ti all, altho he seems qualified and awarded. (DR. Mahveer Mehta)

#23

he seems to not have a clue about laser hair removal. every 2 weeks is way too soon and 14 joules is way too low on LightSheer. Treatments on those areas are usually 6 weeks apart to start and 8 weeks after 2-3 treatments. And you shouldn’t get treated at anything less than 25 joules on LightSheer. Btw, if you’re a woman, you should be careful not to get treated at such low settings as this is known to stimulate more hair on that specific area for some women.

What is your skin and hair type?

#24

hey lagirl,

im a 23 yr old female…and skin type is somethin in between 3 and 4. i have really dark thick hair on the bottom of my chin and on the sides of of my upperlip area but my skin is quite fair…

you certain 14 j is too low? even tho i smelled that gross burning smell after? also its been over 12 hours after the test patch and theres smudges of brown/redness where he did the treatment. I dont want to get burn marks or anything…esp since this is on my face…

another friend thats been gettin this done mentioned that 8j is the safety zone for skin…i have super sensetive skin, it doesnt burn, but tans quite easily and breaks out if i change my face wash or apply makeup too often.

the light sheer doesnt target each individual hair does it? it does a sweep of hte skin doesnt it? Im so confused now!

#25

if treatment is done properly, you shouldn’t be seeing any burns or marks after treatment. and yes, those joules are WAY too low. Not nearly high enough to actually kill any hair. There is no such thing as “general” safety for the skin. Settings and how high is safe depends on your particular skin color and the laser used. If your skin is that sensitive and your hair is dark and coarse, you should also consider getting treated with a Yag laser as it’s more gentle on the skin. The negative aspect to it is that it’s made for darker skins and it’s not as effective on finer hair. But the settings can be pretty high without burning the skin since it’s made for darker types.

btw, was the area shaved before treatment? if it wasn’t, that might have caused the burns. any redness should go away within 1-3 days tops with proper treatment.

for laser to be effective, you need to get treated at highest settings your skin can handle. and for most people, LightSheer doesn’t give any (permanent or not) results when used at settings lower than 25 joules and at short pulse (vs long pulse). Usually, 30-35 joules at least are needed and if your skin can’t handle that without experiencing burns, you should switch to a Yag laser.

Laser doesn’t target individual hairs, it targets an area with individual hairs, equal to whatever the spot size on the particular laser used. LightSheer’s spot size is 9mm. Other lasers like GentleLASE for example have spot sizes that can go up to 18mm. Just means bigger area treated with one pulse. For your areas you’re treating, smaller spot size is probably better because you don’t want for laser to go near other areas around the hair where you don’t really have coarse thick noticeable hair.

Btw, how many hairs do you have total? If it’s under 50 or so, it might be worth getting electrolysis on the face instead. Laser is better for larger areas and on the face if you have somewhat of a beard, not just a few hairs.

#26

RJG2001 you said you had your beard done. My question is after 2 treatments did your beard look even reduced or was it patchy to the end ? I am thinking of getting two treatments with ppx on my beard. Also did the sheding prosses looked even? like could you tell when your beard started to shed that you are having something done? was it obvious?

#27

RJG2001 you said you had your beard done. My question is after 2 treatments did your beard look even reduced or was it patchy to the end ? I am thinking of getting two treatments with ppx on my beard. Also did the sheding prosses looked even? like could you tell when your beard started to shed that you are having something done? was it obvious?

My first two beard treatments were performed witht the Sciton Nd:YAG laser. It had the Clear Scan handpiece which provides a 30 X 30mm spot size. Becuase of the large spot size, the treatment head doesn’t have to be repositioned as often. Therefore the regrowth is less patchy. It also had the best cooling system.

My next four treatments were with the Lyra-i, also a Nd:YAG.
It has a smaller spot size so yes there was some patchiness. Nobody noticed it. I had some spots under my chin that were totally hairless. On each successive treatment we would get the parts where the beard was still the most dense. so the patchiness improved with each treatment. BTW, the chin is the hardest area to treat. The hair is dense there and you can’t start out with real high fluence there. As the hair gets finer and less dense, higher fluences can be used.

My next and 7th treatment was with the Quadra Q4 IPL. It did a respectable job. Hair removal was very even with it due to its large spot size. After the Quadra treatment the only really noticeable hair was in the chin area.

I had two test spots done under my chin with the Aesthera PPx. There was zero pain. I am still waiting for it to shed.

This week I tried the Cutera ProWave 770. Since we had some time left over my practitioner did about 5 spots under my chin with it. We were on Program A for lighter skin and it was very intense! I could immediately smell the hair burning. I imagine those areas will shed very readily.

To answer your question, yes I did have some patchiness, but I do not view it as a big problem. Due to all my treatments I have almost no five-o-clock shadow so the remaining patchiness cannot be seen very easily.

At two-three weeks after the laser or IPL treatment, I would blade shave with an M3 Power and that would bring the ready-to-shed hairs right out all at once.

RJC2001

#28

Post Treatment:
There are no post-treatment regimens associated with PPx Therapy. So once your treatment is done, you are free to resume your normal activities.

that is from the Aesthera website.

are they saying it is ok to lets say go tanning after my treatment and that it is no problems ?

#29

Post Treatment:
There are no post-treatment regimens associated with PPx Therapy. So once your treatment is done, you are free to resume your normal activities.

that is from the Aesthera website.

are they saying it is ok to lets say go tanning after my treatment and that it is no problems ?

I would not go tanning right after an Aesthera treatment, and I am an avid sun worshipper! I would wait at least two weeks and after that use a sunblock for another two weeks.

After having tried a number of different laser/IPL devices on my beard I have come to a few conclusions:

The Aesthera did nothing for my beard, although I did get some reduction on my lower legs. That leads me to believe that the Aesthera does not work very well on coarse to medium hair. My practitioner told me that other clients have said the same thing.

The Quadra was mediocre. Some reduction of the beard but a lot of redness compared to the amount of reduction.

The Prowave 770 is the best IPL. It feels more painful, more like a laser and it has done an excellent job on the beard, comparable to the Lyra-i laser. It has done more than any other device in removing the patchiness. And there was not a lot of post treatment redness and swelling. I think one reason for that is the cooling system that it uses.

The Sciton and Lyra-i lasers are still very good and I think are best for the beard area. The Prowave 770 would be a close second, maybe just as good. After 2 months I will be able to tell about regrowth. So far so good.

The Prowave 770 also did very well on my lower legs. All I have to do is run an electric over my calves and they feel totally smooth for several days. After that I feel a small amount of stubble but not very much. I could easily shave once per week with no problem. But I like the bare feeling of having no hair at all. Looks like my legs are ready for spring and summer!

I had 3 treatments with the Harmony on my upper legs and they have done extremely well. On some parts of my thighs there is zero hair, and that’s what I want. On the third treatment we used the SR handpiece with shorter wavelenghths and pulsewidths. It is more aggressive than the HR handpiece but the skin on my thighs is not as dark so it was workable. I have a few superficial scabs but it is well worth it to get rid of the hair.

I wanted to try the Aesthera on my arms, where the hair is finer, but my practitioner has not decided whether to get that one or not.

RJC2001

#30

That leads me to believe that the Aesthera does not work very well on coarse to medium hair.

But it works on fine hair? Sounds like a great alternative to electrolysis for finishing up after laser.

#31

[quote]That leads me to believe that the Aesthera does not work very well on coarse to medium hair.

But it works on fine hair? Sounds like a great alternative to electrolysis for finishing up after laser. [/quote]

But probably doesn’t work on light colored hair. I haven’t had the chance to test that. The hair remaining on my arms is fine and dark so that would have been a good test.

RJC2001

#32

I’ve had many treatments with LightSheer, GentleLase, Apogee Elite and Harmony. One thing that I noticed is that the Harmony, which is an IPL, worked very well on fine hair. In fact, it worked much more than GentleLase and Lightsheer. Now, strange as it may seem, the Harmony did not worked very well on thick hair. So, for example, on my chest, where I had a lot of thick and dense hairs, I did the first 3 treatments with GentleLase, which worked very well, I had about a 60% reduction and the remaining hairs were very fine. I then did 2 more treatments on my chest with the Harmony, and it worked very well. Same thing on my abs, after 5 treamtents with gentleLase, I had about 80% reduction with the remaining hairs being very thin. So I did 2 more treatments with the Harmony and it worked incredibly well with these thin hairs.