Wondering if switching lasers will help

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

I’ve been treated on the chin for over a year using a Sciton laser. while a handful of hairs may have fallen out, i have yet to see a significant change.

I have skin type II with a mix of dark hairs and light ones. in the chin area the hair shaft is very thick. while it does have a reddish tint to it, it’s not red, but more like dark brown.

I have a very high tolerance to the heat, for example, the technician has used two different filters, 590 and 640. The settings were 15-18j and 25 pw. sometimes she’ll go over the area 3x in a sessions. About 4 months ago i started treating my under arms and for the first time saw what it was like to lose hair in mass.

Now i have an appointment at another treatment center where they’ll use a Gentle Lase. will that make a difference? Should i be researching other things? I’ve tried electrolysis for 2 years with very little if any visible effect.

#2

Sciton isn’t an IPL it’s a YAG. If you’re skin type 2 though then you really should be using a diode or alexandrite. You’ll get much better results with the GentleLASE. Yag’s are only good for very dark coarse hair. Do you know what model of Sciton you’re using though? That’s just the company name. Just checked their website, they have the ClearScan ALX now which is new, it’s an alexandrite as well.

#3

edokid,

May I just add to one of your sentences? “YAG’s are only good for very dark, coarse hair” - on people of color. Don’t want the newbie to be confused.

#4

I have gone to electrolysis three different places over the years . the fist place i would have 1hr long sessions. i don’t remember how often (it’s probably been over 10 yrs). then i tried another place for a little while, but she just seemed to be ripping the hair out before it was truly ‘fried’ so that didn’t last long. then i tied another place for a year doing 30 minute sessions every 2 weeks.

i never saw a “great improvement” or serious reduction due to my treatments

#5

I grabbed a brochure about the laser but all they say is that it’s a ClearScan, nothing about a model number. I’ll see if i can find out. it’s not a new laser in that they’ve had it for at least 2 years, but maybe that’s new in the laser machine world.

#6

They’re not only good for people of colour, I use the Yag on my face it’s the only laser that can reach that deep. A guy’s facial hair is very deep, the alexandrite has no effect on it at all, no shedding nothing. Only the yag gives me any results there. A person with light skin would still get results with the yag on an area like bikini line or other coarse areas. There’s much better options of course though but I’ve used Yag on my forearms as well as alexandrite and still got amazing results.

I doubt that it’s the new laser, this one sounds like a few months old. It’s probably the yag you were treated with so you really want to switch to GentleLASE.

#7

Sciton is actually a Yag laser. The problem here seems to be that the settings are wayyy too low. 15-25J on a Yag is very low, no matter the spot size and pulse width (do you know these settings?)

You should see all treated hair fall out within 3 weeks after each treatment. If this doesn’t happen, you know for a fact nothing is happening to the hair.

GentleLASE would work, BUT only with good settings. AND if the hair is not too deep.

Are you male or female? On males, chin hair can be too deep for GentleLASE as edokid has experienced.

Electrolysis works well. It’s all about finding an experienced electrologist.

#8

I’m aware of that, however 99% of the time when someone mentions Sciton it’s the Yag they’re referring to. Just like when people mention the Alma laser they mean Soprano XL. The alexandrite Clearscan is very new.

The IPL is not called Clearscan.

#9

Pulse width was 25. I’m surprised you say that. the technician says she’s treating me with higher settings than most other people. i would never be able to tolerate the same settings on my under arms or even in on my cheeks/jawline. i do not know the spot size, what’s that?

yeah, i figured that. sometimes I’ll see a handful fall out, but it’s NOT the majority. i also don’t smell a lot of burnt hair during the treatment either, which she says is an indication that the laser is working…btw, is that true?

so what do “good settings” look like? i don’t know how deep my hair is. I’ve usually surprised any technician (especially in the electrologist who have to treat my hair 3-4 times to get the hair to come out) how to you find out how deep a hair is? i do know I’ve got the curved root thing going on (my electrologist says that’s from plucking too much, which i used to do 10-15 years ago.)

I’m female, but been told i have “man hair” it’s not terribly thick, but it’s pretty obvious, being dark hair on light skin.

that would be nice to find the right one, so far the three i’ve been to in different cities haven’t made a dent.

#10

I’ve never smelled burning hair on my treatment. You’d only smell that if you weren’t very closely shaved so don’t go by that. Yag can be painful, but laser hair removal in general is not pain free. If all the hair doesn’t shed then the settings are way too low. You’ll get better results with GentleLASE. GOod settings on here would be 18mm spot size and probably 16 joules or higher.

#11

590 and 640 are IPL filters. Switch to an Alexandrite laser.

#12

Thanks Chris. I think this is the first post here by someone using a Sciton IPL.

If you’re female, your hair is likely not too deep for GentleLASE. Max settings on GentleLASE are 20 joules on 18mm spot size. Anything 16J+ on 18mm would be good for you, if your skin can handle it safely.

#13

my skin has seen a lot of heat.

when i asked what kind of laser i was treated with this is the reply i got:

“She has used both the 1064 ND Yag (ClearScan) & the BBL 590-640. The laser was purchased brand new less than 3 years ago.”

thanks for your help. not sure if I’m clear on if the YAG or the alexandrite will work better

#14

I’m looking for treatment in the Medford Oregon area. i have an appointment in a couple of weeks at the Dermatology & Laser Associates of Medford office. do offices that specialize in dermatology (rather than the ‘aesthetic spa’ place i was going to earlier) tend to be on the more credible side? i’m sick and tired of hearing “our laser is the best in the valley” yet get no results. At the Dermatology place in Medford, they use a Gentle Lase.

#15

It really only matters how much hands-on experience the person treating you has more than the clinic’s credentials (usually in other procedures) or the letters behind their name. So that’s what you should find out first. And when you go for your consultation, ask for joules and spot size they want to use on you. Then post them here. Then we can tell you if they’re being aggressive enough (i.e. knowledgeable enough) or they’re just doing the bare minimum and trying to avoid lawsuits.

#16

thanks. my goal is to be much more thorough in recording the numbers they throw my direction. I’ll let you know.

#17

UPDATE:
I went in for my consultation last week and told them i needed someone to help me troubleshoot, not just a technician who follows the book.
the technician immediately referred me to the doctor who oversees the laser side of the office (Dermatology & Laser Associates of Medford. She said she was not able to start in on higher settings without doctor’s approval. so I’m off to see him later on today.
the technician did tell me they use the 755 alex

#18

Ask for the model of the machine and when asking for settings, try to find out spot size, joules, and pulse width.

#19

When i went in for my appointment with the Doctor, one of the first things he asked me after hearing how laser had been so unsuccessful for me and seeing that i have a little bit of acne, was if i had been tested for PCOS. so I’ll be going to get my blood drawn here on Friday and see what those tell me. I’m not sure about a dermatologist diagnosing my hormone levels.

As far as the laser goes, like i said he uses a 755 GentleLase. we didn’t discuss the details about it because he’s getting a LightSheer Lumenis (i can’t remember if he said something about “Duet” does that sound like it belongs in the laser name?) once he gets that in, we’ll set up an appointment and see how that works.

he was not willing to crank the settings up for me, but said he would start me on the lowest setting and work up.

#20

If you want to find out for sure about PCOS, I would see an endocrinologist who specializes in this.

GentleLASE is great. Lightsheer Duet is a new model with a large spot size and it’s a diode (not as good as alex).

There is no benefit of starting low, for you anyway. The benefit is for him not to have to figure out what your skin can handle. I would ask for test spots at various settings. We don’t recommend treating with GentleLASE on anything lower than 18mm 16J if possible.