Hello All,
I am a male who has had laser treatments on my back and shoulders the last several years. Ive had really NO reduction in the amount of hair and I feel there may be more than when i started.
i am very discusted with the laser people and after much research i have begun electrolysis on my shoulders.
Does anyone know if my potential elec. results may be hindered due to follicle distortion from the laser treatments??
Doubt it. If you made the hair thinner, at least, you might have less pain during electrolysis.
No problem getting electrolysis after laser, distorted hair or not. I agree with bryce - the thinner hair makes it a little better for electrolysis. My sincere recommendation to you is to find an electrolysis practitioner that uses one of the better forms of flash thermolysis. Flash thermolysis these days is not the flash thermolysis used by grandma. IT IS NOT the flash thermolysis as described by Hinkle’s book from the 1940’s. It is much, much better for ALL kinds of hair in all areas, thanks to research and development and computerization.
If you can find, for instance, someone who has invested in the higher end Apilus epilators that do MicroFlash or PicoFlash, then you will get somewhere faster than you would with slower, but good modalities like blend. I am familiar with the Silhouet-tone VMC model that does microflash . That would work well for you, too. It is an excellent epilator as well. Other epilators choices, I don’t know about, but other electrologists can come on board and tell us about what they do for large areas with a lot of hair with their brands.
Search for bryce’s thread. It is excellent reading.
Dee
It’ll probably be easier to treat and kill now since it’s finer growth. You don’t have anything to worry about.
I doubt very much if laser hair removal would distort follicles. Why do you think it has?
I can’t say for JD42’s situation, but I have had more than one client who actually did get distortions from light based hair removal attempts. One in particular I actually did a consultation and sample treatment prior to the L.A.S.E.R. work, and then I had the nightmare job of removing the hairs after they became horribly distorted. In that one case, I was a witness to the before, and after. In the other cases, I only had the client’s word to go for it, but I believed them based on what I had seen for myself.
The reason I inquired is because my practitioner said that other forms of hair removal may make it harder to get good electrolysis results(or may just take longer) due to possible follicle distortion.
The skin always looked normal after my laser(several hrs of redness)and when the hairs grew in they looked like they did before treatment.
Can one tell if follicles are distorted based on the appearance of the hair and skin?? Sounds like James’ nightmare showed obvious signs of distortion.
Follicles that are not completely straight are not challenging for a skilled electrologist as we can work in a way where the range of activity in the follicle, is broad enough for the hairs to glide out. I was wondering when you had your final treatment.
Just began electrolysis after several years and THOUSANDS on Laser. Treating left shoulder and will prob continue laser every few months on back and other shoulder so i dont look like a primate while im doing elec.
She uses short wave/ hi freq (appears to be an older machine) What do u think of that? Acceptable??
The power of biostimulation has light can cause the follicles are deeper and therefore the hair is thicker.
As Nieztche said: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger”.
The follicle appears to be behaving like a human being.
For large areas, a Flash with 27 MHz is the fastest and most effective.
I found James’s post really interesting, as I have not so far not noticed distortions from laser treated growths. Have you any theories as to why this could happen.
“The light stimulation in nearby areas would cause the
passage of an asynchronous follicular cycle to cycle in synchronous follicular anagen, terminal hair growth was observed.”
Bjerring and col. (2000)
“Light would act as an induction agent capable of producing anagen terminal hair.”
Schroeter and col. (2004)
James, have you got any theories as to why laser type treatments would distort follicles ?
While Dectro was doing research into their Light Based Machine Project, they determined something they called the “Shadow Effect”. Basically, hairs that are close together cause uneven treatment of the follicles, causing one side to get more treatment than the other, thus leading to a curvature in some cases, and other distortions as the treatment energy is increased.
Of course, this one result doesn’t cover all the different possibilities.
My name is not James. but I have my little theory of what may have happened.
The light damage occur in the superficial part of the follicle. Sufficient to produce an immediate crust and subsequent fibrosis in the most superficial part of the follicle. Insufficient to eliminate all the targeted area. But enough to make life difficult for the new anagen hair in surfacing. The new hair look otherwise and take an exit to the interfollicular area. Follicular vascularization would also be benefited with frequent sessions of Light. It documented a new collagenization perifollicular.
Postláser edema also help fatten the hair.
What kind of distortion are we talking about?
As you know, I got laser treatments and finished with electrolysis on several areas. There was no change, just less hair and what was left was finer and actually grew more straight (considering I started with curlier follicles). If anyone, electrolysis on some of the areas (areola) caused some ingrowns.
JD - would you mind sharing details on your laser treatments? There are usually reasons when they don’t work. We would need details such as your skin type, how coarse and dense the hair is (photos would be great), what machine was used, at what settings (joules, spot size, pulse width), how often treatments were spaced, how much if any shedding you saw, etc.
Re James and Depil, Thank you both. Very interesting, food for thought.
Hey LA,
Originally had IPL with no results then 2 girls that worked at the IPL clinic bought their own Gentlase Alexandrite machine and I started going to them. They said this was a much better machine and would see results.(which did not happen) I believe I am bet. type II & III Fitzpatrick. Fair skin but I do hold a tan. Hair is pretty dense and course, dark brn-blk. Seemed to fit the criteria for results.
I will try and find out the machine settings. I now based on what they said it was on the higher end. They said I must just have too much Testosterone for it to work. Do u buy that opinion?? I am going to try and post photos(need help with that) Thanks!!
JD42: Having too many androgens (male hormones) can certainly cause you to grow a lot of new hair, but it doesn’t affect how well the laser can kill the old hair. I would blame the laser settings or your candidacy in general (male shoulders are so tricky and quite susceptible to induced growth).
You sound like a good candidate for GentleLASE (one of the BEST machines, hands down), but I worry that your hair isn’t actually as ideal as you think it is, so the photos would help tremendously.
For the record, my laser treatment has made electrolysis exceedingly easy on me, and that seems to be the general way it works. So hopefully you aren’t one of the few who has problems. 
Kitty:God I hope electr will work at least to some degree. I will be so depressed if I have to accept this and do laser forever just for temp results. The hair is very dark and the skin fair. Need to find out those settings and post photos.
My theory is this, for as many treatments that I’ve had over the yrs, even if the laser was destroying only 10 percent of follicles for each treatment, by now I would have substantial reduction. Even if I had 1000 per sq in with half in anagen!it seems to only shock them into dormancy for several months. I just can’t wait to see if I’m getting SOME results from elec. Had my fourth appt for an hour today.sigh.I’m so nervous about this failing.