United Laser Clinics in Chicago

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hi everyone. I am a new male member and reside downtown chicago. I have been plucking hair in my upper lip and chin area for the past 13 years and I decided that its time for me to proceed with Laser hair removal. I went to this place for consultation last week http://www.laserhairremoval.com/chicago_illinois.htm
2551 N Clark St
Chicago, IL, 60686
(773) 883-5300

The chin and upperlip is $777 for 6 treatments and they have a 3 year guarantee. If hair comes back after those 6 treatments within 3 years, I can go back for free. They are using the Starlux 500 by Palomar. I have been searching for reviews for this place and I cant seem to find any. Anyone have any feedback on this place? I did call Avanti, American Laser Center, Dr Gardner and they all seem the same. The guarantee in this place seems attractive

I have stopped plucking for a week now and I plan to start treatment after 3 weeks. I have called around different places and most if not almost all places have an Aesthetician perform the laser hair removal and not a physician or a medical assitant? Is this normal and acceptable?

I will Check Dr Green, I saw that in one of the postings.

Thanks in advance

#2

Definitely see Dr Green. He’s been highly recommended here and he used to be a moderator on another forum like this one.

Starlux is an IPL. Not a bad one, but I would choose a true laser if I were you for this area. Please read the FAQs at the link below to learn everything you can about this first, before jumping into the treatments.

Also, please provide us with more information. How old are you? What are your expectations (not every shaving again is probably not realistic and neither are only 6 treatments). What is your skin and hair type?

Please be aware that this can be a hard area to treat and experience on this particular area is very necessary on the clinic’s part.

#3

I really like their guarantee of 3 years after the 6 treatments and if I see hair then I can come back for free within those 3 years. Not a lot of places give you this guarantee in fact I havent seen any place with that guarantee. It just says a lot about the confidence in their product. I am a skin type 4 or 5, im asian so I have a yellowish skin tone with jet black hair. My expectation is get to a point of having an after tweezer softness on my face without having to tweeze for an hour every weekend. When I shave, you can still feel some stubble (not a lot) which is differnet when you tweeze which is really smooth. That is my expectation. I would like it for hair to be removed but if it ends up just reducing it so that I will no longer have to tweeze every weekend and spend an hour doing that , thats fine with me too.

I dont understand what you mean by “true laser”. So is the Palomar Starlux 500 not a true Laser? Sorry im really ignorant about this.

What I really dont want to happen is for me to spend 800 dollars only to find out that it doesnt work and I wasted my money. If they have a 3 year guarantee, dont you think that if hair doesnt grow in 3 years is a good sign that it worked? I tried contacting Dr Green’s office and I get voicemail all the time. I will still keep trying. Im just in a rush to get this done since the upper lip and chin combo has a regular price of 1900 for 6 treatments and I am getting it for only 800. Plus I am going on a trip to Europe in April so I kinda want some results by then :slight_smile:

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

#4

Just a quick pop in : How long has United Laser Clinics been in business?? The three year guarantee bothers me if they are a new business. Read the fine print on this contract before you sign. Keep reading hairtell and don’t expect too much by April, 2008 for any permanent hair removal strategy you decide to undertake in January, 2008. This stuff takes time.

Electrolysis is apropriate for your face, but since you decided on some kind of light base system, I wish you success.

#5

Guarantees in this business is the last thing you should be looking at when looking for a reputable place. Most reputable places don’t provide them because in reality this is not the type of procedure where anyone can make any guarantees. There are too many variables. In our experience, the only guarantee that is worth anything is the one where you get a refund for at least any unused treatments if you’re not happy after you’ve paid up front. That shows that they’re confident in their skills and care about the consumer. Every other guarantee like the one you mention above is just used to get you to buy a package asap and lock you in.

That price is nothing special. There is no reason to hurry. It will pay you to do your research and choose the right place to avoid wasting your money. In short, if the treatments are not working and they’re non-refundable, the guarantee is useless. So the focus should be on finding the right clinic where you will need as few treatments as possible to get great results. And to reiterate what Dee mentioned above, did you check how long they’ve been in business? Many businesses wouldn’t be able to stay open after a while if they issued that many guarantees like that because once they reach a certain number of clients, most would be coming in for “free” treatments while they’re still having the same amount of expenses.

This machine is an IPL, not a true laser. You can read about the differences in the FAQs. In general, for your skin type, you should be looking at a Yag (GentleYAG - see Candela website for provider search, Coolglide etc) or diode (LightSheer) laser, operated by someone experienced. True lasers usually produce better results, given similar experience by the operator etc, especially for darker skin type like yours.

Keep in mind that you will probably need at least 8 treatments (spaced 8-12 weeks apart, so that’s already 1.5 yrs) and that you may need touchups later in life if you’re still young and your body is still developing hair with age.

Once again. Don’t worry about starting soon. Concentrate on finding the best method to do this with your money that makes the most sense. And make sure to stay out of the sun and use sunscreen before and after you start treatments. Being as pale as possible will help them use higher settings.

#6

I found out that Dr Green’s clinic uses The GentleLASE� plus (for lighter skin tones) and GentleYAG� (for dark skin tones) advanced long-pulse whioh matches what you had in the FAQ. Thats a good start. Im scheduled for an appt with him on Monday and the consultatoin is free. I just hope its not that expensive to get the treatment. Ive noticed that these places with real doctors doing it are soooooo expensive, this place in Northwestern Memorial Hospital in chicago charge for a consultation and then almost 600 per session for the upper lip and chin. I cant afford that for multiple treatments.

Its really not clear to me how to determine what clinic to choose. Doing a city search shows a lot of these spas and places like Hair Today Gone Tomorrow. I wouldnt have found Dr Green in those and even if I did there are not much reviews. I guess theres no easy way but to try to do consultation till you find the right one

As I stated in the beginning my biggest fear other than any permanent side effects is that I end up paying 2000 or more for my upperlip and chin after a couple of years and find out that I am back to where I started. Or is that price to be expected. I might just end up tweezing forever :slight_smile: Thats the worse scenario I hate to happen which is why I want to do this due diligence.

Its odd too what United Laser representative told me about Starlux 500, she says that unlike the other LASR equipment, this device is used specificlly to target hair unlike other laser equipment used for other purposes. Which is why it is very effective. United Laser Has been in business for 10 years. I hope I can get another recommendation on a place in chicago just in case Dr Green ends up to be extremely expensive. I will try that other suggestion and see the laser manufacturer website.

Thanks for all the responses.

#7

All of these machines work in a similar way. What they’re telling you is just marketing. It’s actually pretty easy to tell a good clinic. They are honest and don’t make statements stating that they’re the only ones with the best machine around.

Prices vary. It doesn’t always depend on what type of clinic it is, though sometimes it plays a role. Sometimes a doctor charges more when he treats himself as his time is more expensive. However, that is not always the case. I was treated by a doctor for a cheaper price than at another chain clinic. I’m not sure what you were using to find clinics, but this site is a good place to start as you saw and the Candela website provider search is good too. I personally prefer not to go to places that advertise too much and overhype LHR in general.

#8

Be EXTREMELY careful when purchasing a contract with any type of company. I purchased a contract and rushed into it simply because of the deal “buy one area, get another done for free”.
I have regretted it since the 2nd out of the 6 treatments I bought.

Hope everything goes well.

Kind regards,
Benji

#9

On the subject of contracts, you should check out this post from the past:

#10

Thanks for everyones input. After reading more about this I decided I should go the True Laser route instead of IPL. I tried contacting Dr Green and its just so hard to get a hold of someone there. Noone ever picks up the phone, I sent an email and no response either. Im a client who wants response and this place is really not meeting that criteria, too bad. I found this other place La Piel and the person performing the procedure is an RN, the rates are not bad (120 per treatment for chin and upperlip). She uses a Candela GentleLase and a diode device. She has been doing it for more than 5 years.

#11

They could have been closed for the holidays. Did you leave a message on their voicemail?

#12

Yes and they never called back. When I called yesterday the receptionist said that she was about to call me. HAve you used their service?

#13

No, I referred one of my clients who’s going to school there, and she’s pleased.

#14

Last week was still the holiday week since most had at least 2 days off. I would expect businesses to be operating as usual starting this Monday.

#15

So I called Dr Michael Green’s office today and I actually was able to talk to him directly. I was just shocked when he gave me the ballpark of the price. His rate for the upperlip and the chin is 400 per treatment and it maybe well into 5 treatments so Im looking at $2000 bucks. He said that after the 5th treatment the rate is only 20 percent per session. I will still go see him since the consultation is free but I think that Im not going to be able to afford this rate. This rate is 5X more than La Piel. I guess as long as the years of experience and the device are comparable, I might just go to the RN instead of a doctor. I will of course go over the questionnaire with them and if the responses are pretty similar then I should be ok with La Piel where the procedure is performed by Catalina Ruiz who is an RN.

#16

I would still go in and get a quote in person. They can’t see just how much hair you have over the phone. Plus, doesn’t hurt to mention the other quotes you’ve gotten. They may drop the price to give you business. You never know. But definitely count on at least 8 treatments for this area.

#17

So I met with Catalina Ruiz an RN with La Piel and Dr Michael Green with Lightcare spa in chicago and I have to say that I both like them. Catalina uses a Diode by Lightsheer and Alexandrite (Candela) while Dr Green uses an Alexandrite and a Yag Laser. Its interesting since Catalina thinks im a skin type 4 while Dr Green thinks im a 3. Catalina thinks that she will be using the diode with me which is pretty much works as well as the alexandrite per Dr Green. Dr Green did a test patch with me and if I dont get a burn then he would rather use the Alexandrite with me. Im ready to do this I just need to pick the right one. Catalina charges 180 for the upper lip, chin and neck while Dr Green for the same area charges 375 for the first 5 treatments and 75 dollars for the next treatments which I dont think I will benefit a lot from. Catalina has 5 years experience and Dr Green 8, their only difference is one is a doctor and one is a nurse. I love them both but I just feel that Dr Green’s price is really expensive (for me). Unless someone has a different insight, I may go with Catalina since they are using pretty much the same device and have a good number of years experience with it. Im going to do it this week I hope I can make up my mind :slight_smile:

I am so glad that I didnt jump with United Laser Clinics immediately and did my research, I think this true laser will work better for me than the IPL. thanks for the advise everyone.

#18

Sounds like you can’t go wrong here based on what you know at this point. Is it possible not to pre-pay for treatments at either one? If you pay on a per treatment basis, just start with the cheaper one and see how it goes. If you see good shedding and results, which should be evident within 3-4 weeks of your first treatment, then there is no reason to switch to a more expensive place. I would also find out what settings they will use on you - joules, pulse, spot size.

#19

The difference between the package and the individual treatment is only 30 dollars so for this first round im thinking of just paying 200. If I dont like it then ill switch to Dr Green and cough up the 375. Im sure thats ok right since the devices are the same. Even if she uses the lighsheer diode for me and then I switch to Dr Green and use the Alexandrite, will that be an issue? I did a patch test on both and they were ok. So I called her and asked about the settings, I told her that Dr Green gave me a test patch of 20 Joules and then another one for 25 but I dont know the spotsize. She gave me 14 Joules , 18mm and 1.5 Hertz. She said that unless I know the spotsize that Dr Green use, I cant compare the 14 Joules with the 20/25 Joules. Because I asked her if I can go with higher settings than 14 and she said that we should start with that. Is what she is saying correct?

#20

Yes, she is correct on both counts. 14j on 18mm is probably good to start for your type 3-4 skin type on GentleLASE. you’re right on the edge of skin types, so they need to be careful not to burn you. I think starting with one treatment as you’re doing is a good idea. And she sound knowledgeable.