I was told I was the perfect candidate for laser - light/olive skin with dark hair. I’ve spent $4,500.00 to have almost the entire body treated for 4-6 visits. Well, I’m on my 13th visit (in 15 months) and hair is only 40-80% gone (depending on the area). Not one single area is hair free. I’m not comfortable continuing with treatment. 9 months after I started treatment, was diagnosed with hypothyroidism (2/03), fibroids (6/03) and now am I have inconclusive results on autoimmune testing (7/03). Another issue are the cramping down the length of the backs of my legs for approximately a year (getting worse). The doctor suggested I may have lesions in those ligaments. Plus, I’m starting to get blisters and skin discoloration. I’ve always, always been healthy. I’m 33. I was told there are no side effects to laser hair removal by the laser hair removal professionals… I can’t find any other info. out there. Is there anyone else having these issues? This all just can’t be coincidence.
I have been having treatments for about 2 years now with Ideal Image. I had THICK hair, having to shave every single day and by the end of the day I would have to shave again. After about 1 1/2 years is when I got a complete section hair free and I see great results on other parts I haven’t been treating that long.
What I do notice is that once I started a large section of my body (my legs and arms) is when I noticed a lot of my eyelashes falling out.
I started to research why your eyelashes would fall out and the main reason would be an overactive throid. Could be the same thing. I haven’t been able to get tested yet but plan on checking it out just to make sure there aren’t any medical problems associated.
kjcp: laser hair removal is not something that can be just done by going to the first clinic without doing research as there are many laser types and some clinics operating out there who still don’t know what they’re doing. if the treatments are effective, laser works best on dark coarse hair and light skin (btw, olive is not considered light, but rather medium. laser works best on pale skin). there are clinics telling people that laser is a one-stop solution and will get rid of every single hair forever, which is not the case. fine hairs will still remain and will need to be finished with electrolysis if you want the area completely bare, even if you are getting effective treatments, which is hard to tell without more info.
if you can provide the name of laser used, settings used, specific areas treated, what color and density is the hair on each area, how coarse is the hair on each area, how often your treatments were spaced, etc we can help more.
in terms of side effects, there are none with effective treatments at a knowledgeable clinic. discoloration and blisters can be side effects if the treatments are done improperly which can include wrong laser type and settings used for your skin and hair type. there are no side effects reported other than temporary damage to the skin caused by bad treatments.
please read the FAQs to learn more.
Aly: you should get tested for thyroid problems. if you read through the sticky post on this forum talking about causes of excessive hair growth, thyroid problems are mentioned there.