Quick Post-Treatment Review

[Guest Aly Kat]

hey all... I just finished my last treatment of laser. thought I'd make a weird review/list/pro-con thing hybrid whatever... ...ENJOY!

Age: 22

Skin tone: super-pale caucasian (used SPF 45+ liberally all summer)

Hair color: lightish brown

Time on t-blockers: 18 months

Area treated: entire face/neck facial hair area

Pre-treatment terminal/vellus ratio: ~40/60 (aka I couldn't grow a full dark beard, but still had to shave everyday)

Goal: Eliminate MOST of the terminal (dark) hairs and lower shaving frequency

Pain expected: rubber band snap level of pain

# of treatments: 5 (spread 6 to 8 weeks apart - Mid-March-ish to today)

Pain received: starts off low but gets higher w/ each treatment - about "slap" level by the end

Time per visit: 5-10 minutes (which was awesome)

Total time spent: about an hour spread out over 4 or 5 months

Money spent: $1,100 (went to best place in town - NOT necessary, but they were awesome/friendly/cool)

Results: 99% of terminal hairs murdered, face "feels" smoother

Overall: 90/100

• Got what I wanted ++
  
• FAST ++
  
• Expensive --
  
• Pain was really bad in the 4th and 5th session --
  
• No vellus hairs affected (expected... but I don't care THAT much, most women have 'em)
  

ummm... yeah. hope I helped!

~Aly

[Guest Michaele]

Aly,

Thanks for that report that's the kind of info I'm looking for. Went to the Laser place this afternoon to check them out. My GT said it needed to be an alexandrite laser and an RN doing it.

Talked to the lady and she says alexandrite works well on african american skin, great, I make snow white look like she's got a tan. They'd use a diod laser or somesuch, IDK brain went into numb mode. Oh and she did mention with my hair color it would be thinned out and maybe not totally eradicated.

So ladies and gents, question of the century. Drum Roll Please. Do I follow the GT orders and find a place that uses what he wants, or just say these people have been doing this for years and go for it.

Help me

Shelley

[Guest Donna Jean]

Aly,

Thanks for that report that's the kind of info I'm looking for. Went to the Laser place this afternoon to check them out. My GT said it needed to be an alexandrite laser and an RN doing it.

Help me

Shelley

And what does your GT base this info on?

Personal experience?

My money is on the tech...it's their gig....

(My electrologist was a RN and was 11 years in the business..)

Dee Jay

[Guest Michaele]

GT bases it on he said years of experience working with girls to get rid of facial hair.

I think I'm with you, Dee Jay if it works it works, tell the GT "yep they have an alexandrite laser, yep an RN runs it" but have them do it the way the laser professional says to do it.

Thanks Loads

Shelley

[Guest Donna Jean]

.

The Alexandrite laser systems include: GentleLASE, Apogee, and EpiTouch Plus.

The Alexandrite laser has a shorter wavelength system. However, it frequently produces side effects such as pigmentary changes (lightening or darkening of the skin), or worse, for patients of all but white skin.

While claims have been made regarding safety in treating darker skin types such as type 3, or even 4 and 5 (brown skin), I would not recommend using this lasers for treating unwanted hair in any skin type other than very white skin.

Just sayin'

Dee Jay

[Guest Michaele]

Dee Jay,

Now I'm totally confused, according to that quote the tech doesn't know what her equipment does.

Shelley

[Guest Aly Kat]

http://www.cutera.com/technology/flash-lamp/prowave/

That's the one my place had (I think?). I don't know what all the technical stuff means... but it does say something about Alexandrite (whatever that is) so I thought I'd share I'm skin type 2 (can tan, but usually burn)

[Guest Michaele]

Aly,

Thanks for the link I found 9 centers within 25 miles of me and one of them is on my commute route.

I'm probably type 2 also, burn, peel, tan slightly if I went out in the sunlight.

A lot of the techie stuff just makes my eyes roll up in my head and puts me to sleep.

Big Hugs

Shelley

[Guest Donna Jean]

Dee Jay,

Now I'm totally confused, according to that quote the tech doesn't know what her equipment does.

Shelley

LOL.....

No....no....no, Hon.......

That was just a "cut and paste" off of Google that I thought put some insight on that type of Laser....

Sorry for the confusion...

My bad

Dee Jay