i have had 3 treatments with the lightsheer diode on my full face and am very happy with the results. unfortunately the clinic i was going to sold out to american laser centers (blah) and they are not using the lightsheer. the most recent treatment i had was with a gentleYAG and it did not do anything for me but it also did not irritate my skin. i need to get laser this saturday because i cant take any more time off of work and the only places who use lightsheer around me can only get me in tuesday or wed next week. SO, i was wondering how the recovery with the lightsheer compares with the gentlelase (that’s what i’m getting saturday.) i have pretty sensitive skin on my face because i have to shave. with the lightsheer i get very red for 2 days, get the puss bumps and also the redness around the folicles, and also my skin is pretty swollen for a few days. i have started shedding in almost exactly 10 days every time. what can i expect from the alex laser? same exact reaction? will my skin be burned more, redder, get crusty? i am extremely nervous and i will definitely ask my tech what settings she’s going to use. i’m a type III fitzpatrick and on the light sheer the settings were 25j and went down to 23j because 25 burned me a tad (but i had great results even with 23j.) should i insist a low setting for the alex? around 10j or 12j? anyone know how they compare as far as burning… which is more likely to burn the skin?
sorry for the long post. any help would be appreciated from people who have had skin reactions and/or had both types of laser done.
you shouldn’t expect any burning, scabbing, etc with ANY treatment. the only thing you could see that’s NORMAL are raised and red follicles for up to 3 days or so. if you wash your face and apply aloe vera for a few days after twice a day, that should help with any irritation and puss. you didn’t specify what pulse setting and spot size was used on the LightSheer, so it’s hard to tell how high those were. 10-12 joules on the GentleLASE is pretty low. If your skin can’t handle 14-16 joules on 18mm setting, you should probably be using a diode or a YAG. GentleYAG is actually a very good Yag. if you didn’t experience much, they probably had the settings too low. Have you tried the following links to find another practitioner with a LightSheer or a GentleYAG?
Candela GentleLASE Alexandrite or GentleYag ND:Yag: http://www.candelalaser.com/patients/index.cfm?task=practSearch
well i decided to try the gentlelase (even though it was a bit more expensive) because i really like and trust the tech i have worked with. i just got back. i asked what settings she was using and she told me 16j / 18mm (i also saw it on the machine after treatment.) i must say i am not having the reaction i had with the lightsheer immediately after treatment, which is a good thing! my skin looks almost exactly as before the treatment, any redness has already faded. of course i will really see if there will be any reaction tomorrow and over the next few days, but it’s looking great so far! i will update with my results (this is my first go on an alex laser) if anyone is interested… i can’t wait till shedding starts <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
edit: also, i didn’t know the spot size/pulse setting for the lightsheer, sorry… just knew the joules