Hi I am in the process of getting laser treatment on my shoulders and back.Skin type 3 very dark hair lyra laser being used.Seems like im having great results but i have a few questions.1st through 3rd treatment hurt like hell and you could feel the hair burning underneath the skin on my fourth treatment i barley felt anything,there was a signifigant amount of growth there but barley any pain Why.Secondly i have been reading through the posts and there are alot of unhappy people with the results of laser.This is what i do not understand.This technology has been to my understanding around for about 5 years.They say that it has not been around long enough to see the permancy of laser.How can this be said.The first people that came in for their series of treatments and finished them do you ever hear back from them are they satisfied what have there results been.Another question if it is not permanent will one or two treatments a year take care of this.My experiance to date is that the laser is working very well for me so far,and if i have to have one or two treatments a year it will be well worth it.All i and most people want is the truth if laser is not permanent i mean permanent then just say so thats all. Thanx for reading
Laser doesn’t work for everyone. It has worked very well for me. No, it didn’t get every hair, only about 90% of them! Laser doesn’t get white hairs. I had some of those left over and am getting those with electrolysis.
I think a lot of the negative experiences you read about are due to lack of practitioner skill, especially using fluences that are too low. Some patients and practitioners are overly concerned about getting redness and scabbing and the result is fluences being used that are too low. Also, on a forum like this where people are looking for help are more likely to post negative experiences than positive ones.
Yes, laser does result in permanent hair reduction, but not for everyone. Practitioner skill and experience is very important too.
RJC2001
Hi Indyboy and RJC2001!
After my test patch in both sides of my chest(Alexandrite and Diode) I have to say that both look pretty nice. But the side treated with Diode look far better than the side treated with Alexandrite.
I dont know if this will be permanent or not but we will see. This is my only hope. I dont want to live with depression all my life.
Hi rjc 2001. Do you go for constant treatments to keep this result
Another question is that i have mant follicles that have more than one hair will the laser work as well.Is this a disease or something not to many people have this it seems.
I think more than one hair from a follicle is pretty common - the hairier you are, the more noticeable this is! Or maybe it is just us overly furry people who have this. But it is not uncommon.
I am only on my third laser treatment, but already I see a massive reduction in hair - both from “normal” follicles and the ones that sprout more than one hair each.
Hope this helps…
Fleabag. 
Hi Indyboy…I have an abundance of follicles that have 3, 4 and sometimes 5 hairs in them. I’m treating myself with thermolysis in the pubic region and almost every follicle has more than one hair…except the ones that had been previously waxed before, they seem to only come back as one hair, not sure why that is.
Needless to say my treatment takes a long time because I have to treat each hair in the follicle separately.
Another question is i see that alot of the hair has actually turned very blond almost clear.The laser will not be affective on these hairs correct.Is this a permanent thing or will the hair regain its pigment again
Indyboy, no I do not have constant treatments. The last laser treatment (Lightsheer) that I had was in May of '02. I have maintained the same amount of hair reduction since then. Some people say that laser is not permanent and that all the hair is going to come back. I have not seen that happen at all. The amount of regrowth that I have had is steady since 2 months after my last treatment.
Laser can make the regrowth tha does occur finer and lighter in color. Lighter and finer is better than dark and coarse. Still, I want all of the hair gone and I am having electrolysis done on my chest to get rid of the white hair which is working very well. I am going to have the fine hair on my upper arms, shoulders, and back treated with the Aurora IPL/RF system. It is supposed to work better on finer and lighter hair than lasers. My first treatment is Tuesday and I will report back on my results before I go out of town Friday.
RJC2001
RJC, thanks as always for being so willing to share your wealth of personal experience with laser! This is one of many highly informative threads thanks to your contributions!
You’re welcome. I have had long term experience with laser and thought it would help others plagued byexcess hair.
When I first started laser treatments I knew they had limitations and the result are better than I expected. I consider myself very lucky to have a great practitioner. I knew she was good but I didn’t realize how good until I read here about what some others have experienced with laser treatment.
There is no perfect method of hair removal yet. Each method has its limitations. I am using electrolysis now for white hairs on my chest and it works great. But it is a lot slower than laser for clearing a lot of hair in a short period of time. It does work on all air colors and dark skin so those are big pluses.
There is no way I could have had 50% of my initial amount of chest hair removed in a one hour electrolysis session. Yet that has happened with laser.
Now I have 3 options: electrolysis, Lightsheer, or Aurora IPL. It will be interesting to see the long term results from the IPL, so far so good. Maybe I should do one arm with the IPL and the other one with the Lightsheer with long-pulse at 50J.
Decisions, decisions.
RJC2001