Hi,
Does anyone know if the practitioner should press the IPL on top of the skin with a lot of pressure or just a small pressure will do it?
I’m asking this because I’ve had 5 treatments with an IPL machine, called Harmony, and the practitioner puts some pressure while applying the IPL but not a “lot” of pressure. I’ve heard that for it to work better the practitioner has to press really hard. Is this true?
thank you
Compression makes a difference with the Lightsheer, but I don’t know what the official recommendation is for the Harmony. It may or may not apply to it.
I had one Harmony treatment on my upper legs above the tan line and it worked very well. My practitioner applied moderate pressure, not as much as with the Lightsheer.
What are your impressions of the Harmony after 5 treatments? How dark is your skin? Was a cooling system used? A cooling system does not come standard with the Harmony. When I had my treatment there was no cooling system and that limited use to lighter skin. From what I understand, the cooling system is about $10,000 extra!
I could really feel the pulses from the Harmony without a cooling system. I wonder if a cooling system limits effectiveness or not. But if you can’t treat dark skin without a cooling system, the reduced effectiveness is a moot point.
RJC2001
HI, thanks for the reply.
My skin type is probably III or IV, and I think my results with the Harmony have been good. I’ve done 5 treatments on my back, shoulders,upper arms and abdomen. So far my middle and lower back have had very good results, I am almost hair free. ON the abdomen the results are also very good, and I’m almost hair free also. On the shoulders and upper arms the results have not been very good. I still have a lot of hair, in fact it seems like it’s not even working. I was wondering why that happens. I mean, why have I had very good results on some areas and no results on some other areas.
The practitioner uses a cooling system and a cooling gel. I feel almost no pain. Before the Harmony I had about 8 treatments with the Lightsheer and it hurt much much more. And the results that I had with the Lightsheer were also really bad. Instead of reducing the hair it actually stimulated more hair growth, so that’s why I changed to the Harmony and I feel it’s much better.
thanks
HI, thanks for the reply.
My skin type is probably III or IV, and I think my results with the Harmony have been good. I’ve done 5 treatments on my back, shoulders,upper arms and abdomen. So far my middle and lower back have had very good results, I am almost hair free. ON the abdomen the results are also very good, and I’m almost hair free also. On the shoulders and upper arms the results have not been very good. I still have a lot of hair, in fact it seems like it’s not even working. I was wondering why that happens. I mean, why have I had very good results on some areas and no results on some other areas.
The practitioner uses a cooling system and a cooling gel. I feel almost no pain. Before the Harmony I had about 8 treatments with the Lightsheer and it hurt much much more. And the results that I had with the Lightsheer were also really bad. Instead of reducing the hair it actually stimulated more hair growth, so that’s why I changed to the Harmony and I feel it’s much better.
thanks
I’m glad to hear about the good results from the Harmony. My practitioner had a demo of it and those that have tried it are reporting good results. I found it to be painful, but that’s not a big issue. I’m willing to take the pain if I can get rid of the hair! The fact that it was painful could be due to the fact that a cooling system was not used.
You may have been undertreated with the Lightsheer. Or the tech may not have used compression, which makes a huge difference. The cooling system works better, the pain is reduced, and the treatments are more effective when compression is used. This also permits the use of higher fluences. Using a long pulse width (100-400ms) also allows the use of higher fluences.
I’m beginning to think maybe IPL isn’t so bad after all. Some people are reporting better results with the newer machines. Maybe there is a synergy present when multiple wavelengths are used. Plus, the larger spot size allows for deeper penetration into the follicle.
Why do laser and IPL results vary with the area being treated? I think some of it has to do with depth of the hair follicle and skin color. I had good results on my shoulders with laser, but not as good results on the arms. I have some hair left on my shoulders, but it is very fine and I only shave once a week. I may finish that area up with electrolysis. My arms are very dark, and the remaining hair is finer after several laser treatments. I have had some success with Nd:YAG lasers there. The hair follicles are deeper on the arms and the skin is darker. The Harmony rep agreed that if the hair follicles are very deep, the Nd:YAG may be the best solution. So if your arms and shoulders don’t respond to the Harmony, it may be best to try a Nd:YAG laser.
BTW, the Harmony system does have a Nd:YAG handpiece available. The spot size is small though at about 6mm. They don’t promote it for hair removal, but it can and has been used for hair removal. Ask your tech about it.
I’m doing a demo with the Quadra Q4 IPL tomorrow and will report back on my results. I get treatment at reduced prices and am learning a lot about the different machines.
RJC2001
RJC, thanks a lot for the reply. I think that the reason why the lightsheer didn’t work on me was not because I was undertreated. I’m saying this because I remember the practitioner used it at a high fluence. I think it was 35 or 36. But maybe it was because of the pressure. I do remember that she didn’t apply any pressure at all, she would just gently put the handpiece over my skin. And as you said pressure makes a huge difference with lightsheer.
RJC, do you know anything about bodyfat affecting the results of laser and IPL? I’ve heard that areas where there’s more fat, the laser works better, because the fat doesn’t allow the energy to spread out, and keeps it concentrated. I don’t know if this makes sense at all… but anyway, thanks for the reply.
The part about bodyfat, I don’t know. It’s a good question though. 35 or 36J is on the low side, especially if it is for a later treatment after the regrowth gets finer. I’ve seen my best results on finer hair from a laser with the Lightsheer at 50J and 100ms.
I do agree that the compression has a lot to do with it.
RJC2001
I would have to agree with lack of compression on LightSheer. I’m having treatments with GentleLASE which doesn’t require that and have had great results with both low and high settings. But my one treatment with LightSheer in between barely produced any results. The tech didn’t apply much pressure at all. Makes me assume that that must have been a big issue here considering that most have great experiences with this laser. As good as with GentleLASE.