I posted this under the Laser forum, but let me add some specific information here. I am transgendered, but don’t plan on ever transitioning fully or having SRS. Instead, I am focusing on hair removal, orchiectomy, and facial surgery. I have had most of my facial hair removed via electrolysis, but body hair continues to be a problem. I am going in for orchiectomy in a month or so to reduce my testosterone levels and hopefully help thin out my body hair, but I got sidetracked into the laser arena. As it turns out , I should have saved my money and gotten my surgery, then used the rest for finishing my facial electrolysis. As it so happens, now half of my surgery money is gone to this laser treatment, and I am not at all sure I did the right thing. I should have known better. Working at Starbucks and being young, I don’t make much money, and now I am kicking myself for blowing my savings. Here is what has happened so far.
I found an add in the paper advertising “Full Body Laser Hair Removal: 1500 Dollars.” Of course this seemed too good to be true, so I called and asked about it. To my great surprise, it was as advertised: 1500 dollar one time fee for full body hair removal, unlimited treatments until the hair is gone. I don’t make a lot of money, so even that to me is a fair amount, but hair removal is such an important part of my body transformation that I had to find out more. I went in for a test patch and to get a feel for what it would be like. I found the operator (she works under a doctor, but is not a medical professional) to be nice if a bit ditzy. She was more than happy to do several test patches on different machine settings to see how my skin reacted. After, I felt a little sunburned but quickly recovered. So, I signed up for the full package.
For my first treatment, I took a Vicodin on the way there so I would not be too antsy or in too much pain. This may have turned out to be a mistake. She started work on the back of my neck and on my shoulders. It went well at first, until she set the handpiece down on my back between pulses and I started to feel a burning feeling. After she zapped the area, it started to hurt worse and she said something like “oh, that one really zapped you good.” She put an ice pack on the area, turned the machine’s settings down, and went on to do the my chest and stomach. After the session, I looked in the mirror and saw, to my horror, a huge red area rapidly blistering on my left shoulder. I went home and took a cold shower and applied burn gel to the burned area, but a blister formed anyway. It’s not very big, but I fear it will leave a scar. The rest of my body healed fine, but the areas on my front that she treated with the lowered setting didn’t achieve any kind of hair removal.
Session two, she treated my armpits and arms. We started on the setting she had done the test patches on (80, which I guess is a Skin Station thing.) It wasn’t too bad, until she decided to crank it up to 95 without telling me. OUCH! Each pulse was extremely painful and my skin started to swell right away. I had her turn it back down to the previous level, and we continued. As before, though, post treatment the hairs (it has only been a week) kept on growing as though nothing had happened. My arms, though, especially the left one, seem kind of “burned” to me, and freckles that I had became swollen and scabbed from the IPL.
Only on the areas of my stomach where I had the test patches have I seen any kind of result. Those areas had hair shedding, and now are smooth and clear. I don’t know if maybe those hairs are easier to treat or what, but if we can get the rest of my chest and stomach done like this, I will be at least happy with that.
I don’t know what to do. I have been burned twice by this thing and am not sure I want to continue what seems to me to be futile treatments. I have only had two sessions, but I don’t know how much more I should try. At levels that are comfortable and don’t burn the skin, the hairs don’t seem to get treated. To effectively kill them, it has to be cranked up so high as to be very painful (and I have had a lot of electrolysis here, so I am accustomed to hair removal pain) and causes horrid side effects. To be honest, I wish I hadn’t done this. That money would have better been spent on facial electrolysis and some cosmetic surgery, but I got carried away with visions of hairlessness. Right now, I cannot recommend this system. I will keep you posted on what happens next. I am going in Tuesday for another chest and stomach clearing, and will post what happens.