what can happened when low setting is used?

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hello,

I finally found a clinic here in LA. I got a good price for a packet of 6 underarm and full bikini.

I went for my first visit last Friday, however I didn’t mention anything about the setting to the nurse, just told me she would use higher setting next time, and after the treatment I found out she used a very low setting on me, which was 18mm 10j.
I didn’t know that for results she needed to used at least 14j, just now going reading older posts that I found out about this.
I will be calling the clinic probably next week to make another appointment and will ask the receptionist to make a note to the nurse to use higher setting, no lower than 18mm 14j. and also if they can do a spot test on me.

I spoke to the doctor before anything, he examined me and said that his nurses uses high setting, well I guess not this one, also maybe that is why i didn’t really worry about the settings being used. I thought they would know better because on the packet I bought any treatment after the 6th will only cost me $20, and the doc. even told me that they like to get great results by using high settings, and not wanting patients come back after that because $20 doesn’t cover for the nurses salary.

I am wondering if I ruined everything and my hair will grow finer and not be able to be eliminated for good???

Should I wait for longer than 8 weeks to go back?

Any info on this will be greatly appreciated.

Also the pain was very minimal, and I guess where the hair was thinner I didn’t even feel a thing.

I am skin type III

#2

Perhaps at Skin Type III , you are not as light on the bikini area
so they used 10 Joules which is low. If you are dark on the areas treated, they may need to use an NDYAG laser on you. Otherwise, have them do a test patch on the areas treated with higher energies and see what happens.

#3

Thanks Romeo, I will wait to see what happens, how shedding goes and will be calling them again to do a spot test on my skin, I will try to speak directly to the nurse that treated. Thanks for the reply.

#4

This low settings business confuses me. I have had two sessions on the Gentle Lase at settings of 9j-10j (I am skin type II) and the process seems to be working. Granted, I haven’t a clue if the results are permanent, but neither can someone getting the treatment at a stronger setting. So, apart from waiting a year or more to judge the effectivity of treatment, what signs should we look for between treatments to judge whether or not the settings used were appropriate?

More importantly, is it an accepted truth that a skin type 2, receiving laser treatment on a Gentle Lase, must have settings at a certain level (say, 16j and up) for the treatment to have permanent results? All this arbitrary talk about settings being too low is unhelpful without clearly stating what you mean, and what settings are recommended as an alternative.

#5

There only accepted truth in laser hair removal is that more energy means greater chance that the follicle is permanently disabled.

The amount of energy needed for a given hair depends on a myriad of factors, how deeply pigmented the hair is, how pigmented your skin is, how coarse the hair is, what stage of growth it is in, how deep the follicle is, etc…

The professional advice given to doctors who perform laser hair removal is to do patch tests and then treat at the highest fluence possible for the given skin type. Many lesser-qualified practitioners are uncomfortable doing that because they do not know how to accurately evaluate skin reaction to gauge energy tolerance without actually damaging the skin, thus they start at a low fluence and work their way up slowly.

based on what I have read, type II should easily be able to handle 18mm spot / 20j/cm^2 on GentleLase, so I would suggest going straight to that setting (its the max fluence allowed with 18mm spot on gentlelase)

I am type I and can handle 40 j/cm^2 with no problems