WOMEN's FULL BODY TREATMENT PACKAGE

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hello all,
I am new to the forum (although have lurked here in the past).

I am in the UK, and am of Pakistani Asian decent (therefore Fitzpatrick IV I presume).

Over the past several years I have had my face treated and am happy to have had a 95% reduction.

I have just purchased a women’s full body package of 6 treatments at a well known clinic with chains all over the country. They use a nd Yag laser although I cannot recall the exact model; I shall find this information out.

I really need some help in order to get the most benefit from the treatment.
I have sufficient thick coarse hair all over my body to warrant treatment.

Should I expect the clinic to use different settings and spot sizes on the different areas of my body?

Can anyone give me a rough idea of what settings should be used?

Also any advice on how I am going to tolerate having my full body done in one session?

Thank you for your help

#2

I forgot to mention I am 22, and to ask should I be waiting 8 weeks between each session?

Also here are some pictures to get a sense of how hairy I am :frowning:

#3

I’ve often found chain places to use settings on the weaker side, but that may be a more common thing in the US than in the UK. Your hair is definitely the right type for laser. The proper settings are hard to give over the internet since we can’t see your skin, how you react, or the machine being used. If you post here the machine name, spot size, pulse width, and joules (fluence), we can tell you if it’s strong enough.

To tolerate the treatment, you’re going to suck it up and pull through it. You’ll thank me for that advice later ;).

#4

Who did successful treatments on your face? Is there a reason you don’t want to stick with them? It sounds like they did a good job.

You really need to go in for a consultation and have them do some test spots. Then post the settings they want to use here and we can tell you whether they seem aggressive. We can’t judge this over the internet. Skin types are approximate.

I would ask to treat at highest settings your skin can handle without burning. Use a numbing cream if you must as Brenton says.

What specific areas are you treating? I would concentrate on just areas with coarse hair. I understand you have a lot of them, but still. Don’t touch any spots without coarse growth.

No need to preplan treatment spacing. Come in when there is enough new growth after everything sheds and new hair comes in. On all body areas, it’s a minimum of 8 weeks. Some areas like legs can typically wait 12.

#5

Thank you for your help!

The successful treatments were done by the same clinic; however I had well over 25 treatments in order to achieve the reduction.

I shall post laser settings after I go for the test patches on Sunday.

As for specific areas; it shall be chest, abdomen, full back, buttocks, peri-anal, bikini and full legs. I feel I have sufficient coarse hair in ALL these areas.

I have 6 treatments and all must be used within a year.

#6

I went for my test patches today.

The laser is a: gentleYAG

For chest, abdomen, back, arms, legs and buttocks I shall be treated with 18mm spot size at 10J, with a pulse width of 3ms.

Underarms, peri-anal and bikini will be done with 15mm spot size at 14J, with a pulse width of 3ms.

The practitioner was not willing to go any higher than thes settings for the first session.
For each following session she will hopefully increase the joules by 2 each time.

Does this sound reasonable?

Thank you

#7

10J on 18mm? That’s a REALLY low setting. It will be useless if you want permanence. On 18mm, max is 30J on this machine. On 15mm, max is 40J. So the other setting is also very low. They should be testing higher settings to see what the highest your skin can handle is without burning.

So no, it doesn’t sound reasonable and I wouldn’t recommend spending your money on these settings.

If this is what you did the first time around on your face, the reason it took 25 treatments was because the first 20 were useless due to low settings.

#8

Thank you for the help; I would have just wasted more time and money getting ineffective treatments.

I rang the clinic back up and spoke of my concerns of the low settings.
The lady on the phone was VERY condescending and said it was because of risk of burns. I told her I knew there was this risk so surely that was why test patches are performed; to see what the skin can handle safely.

During one point of our conversation she told me off for ‘raising my voice at her’ although I was not at all. I tried to explain that I have been having laser hair removal with the clinic for several years and was not asking them to put the laser to the maximum but just to start somewhere higher.
I even told her that I felt that the clinic was just trying to make more money out of individuals; by starting the settings so low that people have to purchase numerous packages to achieve any decent hair removal.

She kept saying it was protocol to start at those settings, and would not agree to start with higher joules. I then told her in that case that I was not happy to have the treatment.
She then spoke of either a refund or me signing something to say I wanted the higher settings, i.e. to cover the clinic if something went wrong I presume.

The outcome of the conversation was that I am going in next week to have another consultation so it can be decided what to do.

Roughly around what joules should I push for on the 18mm and 15mm spot size?
I was thinking around 20J but do not know if I should aim even higher?

After looking on the clinics website I noticed that there is a consultant dermatologist affiliated with the chain of clinics.
Luckily for me said Doctor happens to work at the hospital I am training at; so I have emailed him in the hope he may help. Hopefully he can give me some written consent for my treatment to start with higher settings. He has said he will look at my notes and get back to me.

#9

It’s hard to say what you should be asking for, but I can tell you that if they won’t at least test something higher than 20J on 18mm and 28J on 15mm, then I would schedule consultations at other places.

You’re just asking them to test higher settings. It shouldn’t be that hard. They can check your charts and see the highest they used on your last treatments in the past and at least test that to start. If you could handle those settings at that point, you should be able to handle them fine now. It’s a Yag laser. I don’t see the need to be this cautious. Yags are made for darker skin, including African American skin. Candela also provides charts with recommended settings for specific skin types. Maybe you can ask them to show it to you (I would assume those settings are conservative, but they should still be higher than what they’re suggesting).

#10

Again many thanks for your help.

I had a review with the doctor at the clinic. They are now willing to start at 18J on the 18mm spot size and 24J with the 15mm spot size.
They will not go any higher than this to begin.

I have rang around many other laser clinics in the Manchester area (in th UK) and have not had much luck elsewhere.

Shall I go ahead with these settings?

#11

Can I ask when was your last treatment on your face?

#12

My last treatment was around September 2012. I no longer have regular face appointments but maintenance once or twice a year.

#13

25 treatments is a LOT. It means the first 15-20 were probably at very low settings and pretty useless. Make sure you get new treatments at good settings from the start. You shouldn’t need maintenance treatments unless there is something in your body that continues to produce new hair (may be happening still at your age).

#14

Thank you once again for saving me a lot of time and money!

I am in the process of getting a refund from the company.

In the meantime I have had some test patches with another clinic (who were asking for almost double the price - but have agreed to price match with the first clinic)!

This is for the Cynosure Elite with the ND:Yag part.

12mm spot size, 40ms at: 25J, 30J, 35J and 40J.

15mm spot size, 40ms at: 20J, 25J, 30J and 35J.

I asked her about the pulse width and whether she would consider reducing it. She said she could not lower it to any more than 40ms. When I told her that I believed that the lower it was the faster the energy was given to the spot size she said I was incorrect.

They don’t have the 18mm spot head at this particular clinic.

The practitioner is very keen to use the 12mm head on me (everywhere). This is as after she has performed the test patches I got some red heat bumps at each hair follicle, but this happened only with the 12mm head and not the 15mm one. Is she correct?

Thank you

#15

If you can handle 15mm/35J without adverse effects, that’s what I would try to go for. Try to avoid 12mm altogether and use the highest on 15mm you can handle safely.

#16

Wow I very much appreciate the speedy reply!

I had no adverse affects and I believe she was willing to take it up to 40J on the15mm spot size too.

Should I be worried about the pulse width?

#17

Also is this now a high enough setting to be treated at? Or should I still look around for an alternative clinic willing to go even higher?