Hi all,
anyone heard of this machine? i know it’s an Nd-Yag laser and i know that the GengleYag is the best in this category but i would really like any feedback on fotona…
i’m under an alexendrite hair removal treatment, i know that alexendrite is the best (i’m skin type ||| to |V) but they are using cynosure apogee with 12mm spot size in the clinic that’s the biggist size they have, but i’m consedering using the fotona with 20mm spot size, i was surprized when i knew that this machine can go down to 2ms pulsewidth that’s even lower than GentleLase,
So what do you think is the best for me (alex with 12mm spot size or Nd-Yag 20mm)
P.S this clinic is the only option for me right now.
This doesn’t provide information though. They say that the SCANNER 6mm spot is ideal for hair removal, which it isn’t. Then they say that manual spot sizes vary from 2-20mm, but they don’t say if 20mm is available for hair removal in particular. Same with pulse. They say it can go to 0.1, but they don’t say what is the lowest for hair removal. They’re basically talking about all the skin treatments it can do together.
In general, for your skin type, that Apogee is your best bet. Yags are not good on fine hair, even at low pulse. Alexandrite will always beat it if you can handle the settings, which you can. You should be using the Apogee at high joules and lowest pulse if you can for the finer hair (you didn’t specify your hair situation) which is 5ms.
well i was wrong about the spot size that they are using with apogee it’s actually 10mm, to tell you the truth the hair is not improving althouge they are using a high fluence (22j/ms),(20ms) that’s why i was thinkin about using the other machine, but definitely i’m not gonna use the scanner cause the biggest spot size is 9mm.
i know that alex laser is best for me (skin type ||| to |V, hair is combined coarse and fine) but i’m trying to compare the options. that’s why i’m seeking an advice.
comparing (10mm, 20ms v.s 20mm, 7ms) why 20ms with alex? because they told me that’s the lowest they can make for my skin type… i called the clinic and they told me that 20mm in Fotona can reach 7ms.
you can’t compare alex and yag settings like that. it’s apples and oranges.
the settings you’re describing are not “high fluence” if they’re only using 10mm spot size. The smaller the spot size, the less effect the joules make. Pulse can also go down to 5ms on Apogees usually.
it sounds like they’re following a predetermined protocol based on arbitrary skin types (it’s really subjective what skin type you are since this classification system wasn’t created for this purpose) instead of using actual experience to figure out settings.
Now i’m confused,
ok to be on the safe side let’s suppose that i’m actually skin type |V and my hair is all coarse, can they use pulse 10ms and 5ms? (apogee) they told me that they are using pulse 10,5ms only on skin types | and ||, and only for fine hair and it doesn’t effect the coarse ones, is it true or they don’t know what they are doing?
and what’s the max fluence they can use on me if they tried to use pulse 10ms, sorry for my questions but i just don’t want to get burn.
and again what about fotona xp max is it a good yag? anyone has tryed it?
Let’s start from the beginning then. Is your hair coarse or fine? What area are you treating? Do you have a picture of the area/your skin so we can see how dark you are? If you’re a type III-IV, you can probably go as high as 30 joules at 10mm spot size, with pulse ranging from 10-50ms. They need to test a spot first. If your hair is coarse, you don’t need to go as low as 5ms, but the joules should be raised.
Noone’s posted experience with that Yag, however if your hair is coarse, very low pulse on a Yag won’t matter for you. You will still get better results with an alex with higher joules. To be able to judge anything for that Yag, we would need the information on settings specifically for LHR, which is not stated on their website.
as for my hair type, it is coarse on the bikini area and it’s combined with coarse and fine hair on the face area.
in the last session they used (22j, 20ms and 10mm) on my face and (18j, 20ms and 10mm) on the bikini, they told me it’s a very high setting for my skin type and probably the highest that they can use…
is the pulse 20ms good enough on the bikini area? they are using IPL with pulse 40ms first then switching to laser to effect all the hairs as they claim. is this a good idea or not? i don’t really trust their decision, but this is my only option so i really need your advice
i’ll try to collect all the information that i can get for LHR on Fotona machine, and i’ll try to post a picture of me as well as soon as possible.
I think they should go higher on the settings. Ask them to test higher joules if they’re not sure to make sure you don’t burn. Those joules are pretty low for a 10mm spot size. To compare, GentleLASE is set at 3ms pulse, and effective joules are considered 16 joules and up on an 18mm spot size (almost twice as big). If you decrease the spot size, the effectiveness of the joules decreases. So, if you go down to 12mm spot size on a GentleLASE, 30 joules or so should be used etc.
I don’t understand the point of using an IPL first on the same exact area. This sounds very odd.
I’ve been reading your conversation with interest. I am a Fotona XPMAX owner and operator. I’ve been a Fotona laser owner for 6 years. You may wish to visit www.fotona.us. While hair removal is one of its major applications, I use it in all of my vascular work as well as other areas. My experience in hair removal is quite different from what is stated. The scanning technolgy is wonderful and gives the operator a very efficient way of accomplishing treatments while providing optimal safety, efficacy and unsurpassed comfort on all skin types. And yes, you can use the 20mm hand piece spot size should you wish. I am a clinical instructor and my experience in teaching those who have used other types of hair removal equipment has been quite interesting. It is fun to watch their excitement over the differences offered in the Fotona equipment. I am a blonde who HAD very fine, light brown underarm hair - so the comment that a Fotona laser cannot remove fine lighter hairs is not my personal experience nor the experience of my patients. I would comment however that not all Nd:YAG lasers are created equal so if ineffective hair removal is the experience of other Nd:YAG owners, they should look more closely at a Fotona Laser for a different experience. If you would like to find a Fotona Laser in your area - please contact the www.fotona.us website.
Thanks for contributing. 20mm spot size for hair removal sounds great, however I have a very hard time believing that you have achieved any sort of removal of light fine hairs with this machine. How do you explain the physics of it if that hair doesn’t have much pigment? The problem with your claim is that you have something to gain from stating this while there are unbiased personal experiences all over this board stating otherwise, even with more powerful machines with shorter wavelength like alexandrites and diodes.
