Does it matter if I go with CoolGlide, Lyra, Athos, Varia, etc? CoolGlide sounds nice but sounds like it might be less effective too? How do I determine which? Of course I want the type that will be more powerful/effective for me. But I guess that will depend more on the practictioner’s judgement of what levels to use and other stuff. And it doesn’t seem like many people have tried treatments with more than 1 of these Nd:YAG so how to compare? I guess I am a IV skin type. The area I want done has darker skin (darker than the rest of my body). The hairs are dark and various thickness, I especially hate the coarse ones. It seems like it’s difficult enough to find any places that have an Nd:YAG so I may be going with whichever they happen to have.
Go with the best practitioner at that point. That’s most important anyways. How they set the settings and how knowledgeable they are will in part determine your results. So that’s what I would look for. A good tech will have a good laser anyway. Any Yag should be fine. Apogee might be a good choice too in addition to the ones you listed since it has an alexandrite setting as well…which means if the skin is light enough or borderline, an experienced tech can manipulate the machine for best results.
I was reading old posts and the CoolGlide sounds painful. Is the lyra-i ok pain wise? And are others not too painful like GentleYAG and Elite YAG?
I’m worried that a place would try to convince me that their non-YAG laser would work fine (at higher settings) simply because they want the business and they don’t own a YAG laser… I think I should stick with YAG (due to dark skin) but am concerned about the pain (and definitely prefer a YAG type that does ok with finer hairs).
One place says they will treat dark skin types, but I think they only have a GentleLASE, that wouldn’t work, would it? Maybe they have another machine too (GentleYAG).
I think I will go for a consult at another place that has GentleYAG and hope they seem knowledgable and everything.
Definitely don’t go anywhere that only has an alex or a diode, like the GentleLASE place. I suggested an Apogee because it’s one machine that’s both a Yag and an alex.
Any Yag laser should be fine. The pain is not that different from one to the next. And in general, you want it to hurt somewhat. If you don’t feel any pain, I would be worried that it’s not working.
The Nd:YAGs are very similar. If you go with the Lyra, make sure it it the Lyra-i with the high fluence capability. The one YAG that is apart from the others is the Sciton. It is actually a two YAG lasers in combination that drive a scanner. It can treat large areas quickly and results in fewer missed spots. It does not have to be repositioned as often. It is the Mercedes of YAG lasers. It also has the best cooling system so it may be a little bit less painful than the others.
The Apogee has different model lasers. The Elite is one that has YAG capability. Their website is www.cynosurelaser.com. Some Apogee models are alex only.
I’ve been treated with the Sciton and Lyra-i. They both deliver good results. But because of the Clear Scan feature I prefer the Sciton. If you’re a type IV the YAG is the best choice. A really good practitioner can treat type IV with a Lightsheer.
RJC2001
Thank you, thank you!