Hello,
This forum has been invaluable (along with cosmeticenhancementsforum.com) in guiding me on what to do about the hair on my back (and other places).

So this is my story:

I'm male, 33 and have a hairy back, here's a picture:

I would have said this hair was fine, but chatting with the lady she said this was coarse hair (I guess compared to arm hair it is)

I calculated that I'm a Type II on the skin chart (and the operator agreed), and that I would respond best to an Alexandrite laser. These forums more or less said the GentleLase would be the best machine for me, and there are very few of these machines in Sydney, Australia. I found one recommendation for Lasercare in Artarmon, i found no other recommendations for any clinics in Sydney that use GentleLase.
I asked the following questions:

How old is the machine?


How long have you been doing this?


Who taught you?


Do you do anything else?

(I did notice that the Dr also ran a gynaecologists in the same building)

What settings will you be using?

I also noted the pulse count was 1318, the spray was 60ms, cooling was 40ms and the canister count was 5391

How much will it cost?


Questions i didn't ask?
(in a Sean Connery accent) Do you Expect me to talk?

and

It's not mounted on the head of sea bass is it?

This was the area selected for the test patch

Then she gave me a little shave with electric clippers, and zapped me. ooooo good lord it hurts.
Like properly hurts. And there is a smell of burning hair
Some have said "it's like have an elastic band flicked on your skin" which is true, but it's one of those tiny thin stretchy elastic bands, and it's pretty much been pulled back to just outside the earth's atmosphere.
A few years ago i accidentally stapled my hand. It felt like that. But the pain disappears almost straight away.
However, in having a whole back done the pain is pretty much constant as one zap fades the next one is applied.
She thoroughly recommended anaesthetising cream and I whole heartedly agreed.
I have quite a high pain threshold (I broke 4 ribs a few years ago and didn't know until an xray a year later) but for only an extra $70 I'm goign for the cream.

This was my back 1 hour afterwards:


Doesn't hurt but it feels a little sensitive.

What I would like to know is:

Is the price ($450 per session) reasonable? the receptionist said it is likely to go down after two sessions as there will be less hair to treat.

Is a 10 year old machine ok?

What is the Pulse count and the Canister count?

Those are good settings. However, most of your hair is not really coarse enough to be affected by laser. The part at the top and a couple spots on the sides are dense and coarse enough. The rest is likely too fine and treating them can result in induced growth on those areas, so that's something to be aware of. You will need electrolysis for most of the hair in the middle of your back.

To answer your questions, that price is ok for the entire back, but since you really only should be treating those several spots, it should be a lot cheaper. 10-year-old machine is fine as long as it's been maintained.

Call around and get other price quotes. LHR prices vary greatly. 300 dollars per session is not a bad price in the US.

Make sure to only treat dark coarse hair. I would also suggest that they place ice packs on areas where you do not want to induce growth. The ice packs will help to absorb heat from the laser and keep it from inducing growth.

Just have the top 10 by 10 centimeters square treated. It should cost around 50 Aus Dollars.

Pulse and canister count, I think they have something to do with previous treatments.

Pulse count is how many times they actually shoot the laser beam. I would assume canister count refers to the numbing agent left.

I have a similar type skin and used a GentleLase+ with great success.
http://www.hairtell.com/forum/ubbthreads....html#Post46017

I recommend the clinic in Artarmon (owned and run by a medical doctor called Jill [ who is great!] and with assistants who know what they are doing). Appears you went there too.

http://www.lasercare.net.au/

Yes, they are more expensive than IPL clinics around town but price is long forgotten after quality results!

For anyone that wants good information on chest hair reduction with a respected laser, please read the above post that ExSidneyGorilla wrote about his experience. Laser worked really well for ESG. If ESG wanted total removal, a skilled electrologist could get the remaining hair, but he seems very relieved with a 90% reduction. We can't be more thankful to him for such a fabulous report. One of the best I've seen here on hairtell.

I've just had my 1st full session, I delayed it a week to see how the test patches reacted. All good.
This is me post one hour:


(the hexagon pattern at the bottom is from my car seat)

I got there an hour before I was due and the Doctor (who i hadn't met before) shaved my back and shoulders then rubbed EMLA cream on my back (this cost an extra Au$70. it was totally worth it.) then wrapped me in Cling wrap (also known as Glad Wrap) and left me in my own little room for an hour for the cream to take affect, it was nice. I fell asleep.

Then the lady who had done the first test patch took me into the laser room and started. She griddled me up with a pen and wiped off any excess cream.
She was using the higher 15/30 setting.
The cream was working well, it feels odd. I think I can best describe it like your back feels like your head when it's under water. Or possibly like that brief period when you've had really bad pins and needles and it's in the numb stage as it's returning to normal.
For the main part I didn't feel anything, then in the thicker hair it was a bit painful. Right on the spine was a different pain and caused little muscle spasms which was weird and really unpleasant (but I'm very ticklish on my back).

I intend to have the next session in 10 weeks time, is there any disadvantage in waiting more than 8 weeks?

I think I'm going to get my bottom crack, my balls and my shaft done.
I will be using EMLA cream on that one. I will probably wait until the new year for that one too though :0)

hello again,
this is 24 hours after treatment:


It feels sensitive, not painful, not even uncomfortable. Like I've got a mild sunburn I guess.

The hair follicles have started to blister


This is the bottom of my neck, where the hair was thickest
click the magnifying glass for extreeeeeeme close up

This was the same result as the test patch...so just waiting for it to clear up.

Looks fabulous to me. It appears that you had a good treatment, but the jury is still out as far as what kind of results you will end up with. What aftercare advice did they give you?

Thanks so much for the pictures.

Dee