Okay, one question about them though … they said that people are usually done in 2 - 3 treatments? That was alarming to me, since I’ve read many times that at least 5 - 7 are needed. Do you think that points to an ineptness/sketchiness on their part, that they’re saying 2-3 only?
For bikini line, you’ll get a huge reduction after 3 usually, probably close to 70%, which is what happened in my case. So some people may be happy with that. I wouldn’t base anything on that statement.
Awesome. Thanks again.
Crap, I just thought of another variable. The local GentleLASE place was going to do 2 week touch ups in between actual treatments. I am fairly certain the Apogee place does not offer that. Also, GentleLASE place was going to discount treatments 4 and beyond (based on # of pulses needed,) and the Apogee place didn’t give me a definitive answer on whether or not they would do that. Does this tip the scales back the other way, you think?
I don’t know. Their prices seem much higher and given that you need more areas done, you probably won’t want to pay their prices for those areas in the future. There is no committment here, so I would give it a try if you can make sure the settings are fine.
You can talk to the Apogee clinic and see how they handle missed areas and treatments when there isn’t much left to treat.
sparta,
What general area are you in? I’m also looking for a GentleLASE option for my wife and I to both get Brazilians. She doesn’t know yet that this is what she is probably getting for Christmas. I live in the East Bay (45 minutes outside San Francisco).
Hexy, check out Aura Skin Spa in SF. My friend got her treatments there after I helped her and is very happy with her results on bikini, underarms, and stomach. They have a GentleLASE. There are a lot more places in the East and South Bay compared to Sacramento area. So you have plenty of options. Run a search here as well. There are good places all over SF, East Bay, and South Bay (around Palo Alto like Zoo Laser).
Run a search here. I recommended Aura to someone else and there are a couple specific nurses that my friend mentioned in that thread.
lagirl,
With two young kids, we need a place closer to home, so SF is not an option. I’ve found a couple places myself online, but would prefer to find a referral from this site if possible. I’ll talk to a few before we choose which one we go to.
I am in Kansas City. No knowledge of SF, sorry. 
So far, the Apogee clinic seems great. I’m going in for a consultation Friday. It’s supervised by an MD, they do many other procedures (cosmetic laser and surgery). But, they said they were the first doing laser in their city (which is a nice, big city.) I can find out the specific experience of the person who will be doing my lasering during the consult. She said they would consider touch ups in between treatments if I thought I really needed them, but again I have to talk to the doctor about it.
Also they said they might discount treatments 4+, but once again, have to talk to the Dr about it during my consult. So it sounds like they’re negotiable, I just need to know what I want.
They’re very nice, also, which is great. I’m actually excited. They said they have a cooling unit, so that it should be just as good, and painless, as the GentleLASE. She said she didn’t feel like the GentleLASE was any better than their Apogee. I forgot to ask what model Apogee it was, I do know its the Alexandrite though.
They said some people are done after 3 treatments on the bikini, because it responds so well. It did surprise me that they said underarms usually takes “a long time.” Other than that, I am excited about the consult, and think I may have found my place.
Alright, I went to my consultation, and I am still undecided and needing an opinion on what I’ve come away with.
The doctor at the Apogee clinic told me initially they didn’t do brazilian, but then his nurse said that they actually did. So, he was surprised. He said he would NOT however do the peri-anal area, because of hygeine reasons (which sort of offended me, since I am a very clean person.)
Anyway, then he said he would charge the SAME for brazilian as bikini - which is $150 per session. Nice deal! But then we didn’t talk about discounted sessions after 4X. I asked but we got sidetracked and didn’t come back to it.
They don’t do touchups in between, because they overlap the circles a little bit. They said they’ve never experienced burning.
They had one reference call me so far who is happy with this after 6 treatments has 90% removal in her bikini area. Other references should be calling me this week also.
The nurses do it and are experienced. They have one girl who is new, but “has had a lot of training.” I was just going to ask to have a nurse, with the most experience. I scheduled an appointment for two weeks from now. 150 sounded like such a good deal, even though it doesn’t include the peri-anal, I figured I could go back to the other place and have them do just that later if I decided to. (She only charged 200 for a package of 3 for that, so it would still be a good deal for me.)
Or do you think that’s too much hassle, and I should just pay the extra price at the GentleLASE clinic and have the whole brazilian/peri-anal area done at once?
The Apogee clinic does a lot of other cosmetic stuff also, and the doctor is a plastic surgeon.
If the doctor doesn’t perform the treatments himself, I wouldn’t expect him to be most knowledgeable. And once you’re on the table, you can see how much you can get the nurse to remove. She may not mind treating a bit more here and there if you ask. It’s worth a test try at $150. I would also ask for settings. The fact that they said they never hear of burns may mean they use relatively low settings. So it doesn’t hurt to ask what they would use. Ask for joules, pulse and spot size settings.
Okay, another thing I forgot to mention was that they told me the Apogee had a longer pulse length than than the GentleLASE and therefore was a little bit better machine…?
No, lower pulse is more effective. GentleLASE is stable at 3ms. The lowest Apogee goes is 5ms.