How much did YOU pay for your lightsheer treatment

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
1

I have never used the Lightsheer laser yet. I am going to look into setting up an appointment to get a test spot done.

My question is how much personally do you pay for your lightsheer treatments?

I’ve had 2 different techs for the GentleLASE by Candela, used several IPL’s including the Palomar, the Lyra Yag laser, and the Epitouch laser.

How much different will the lightsheer be? It is to my knowledge that the best lasers out there are the GentleLase and the Lightsheer. Is this true? I have light skin, dark hair. Mind you, as many of you know, I’ve had 25 treatments, 17 of which were with the GentleLase. How many Joules should I be looking to be treated at?

I’m in the process of trying electrolysis, but even the electrolysists I go to state I should go back to laser because I have a large area. I feel I have exhausted my laser search however. What haven’t I tried that could be good?

2

Twenty-five LASER treatments! Are you including IPL’s in this figure?

I think this was addressed before, if you find an electrologist in or near your locale that perferably has a microflash epilator, decent, deadly speed and the spirit and confidence within not to turn people (men) away with large areas, your troubles will be behind you if you use electrolysis as your final solution. I’m sorry to hear that you can’t seem to settle down with an electrologist that will carry you forward, but keep looking if you have the will.

Your other questions will have to answered by lagirl or others.

Dee

3

were your GentleLASE treatments by the same person? can you mention what settings were used for most of those? LightSheer is a good laser in good hands as it requires more knowledge on the part of the tech (more variable settings). GentleLASE is set at 3ms pulse, but LightSheer can vary from 5-100 or so. If they won’t use settings of 25 joules and up, it won’t be very effective. Also, they would need to be using the up and down method instead of gliding and compression. I think the only way this can be any different than previous treatments is if the techs were not very good in your past treatments.

also, price doesn’t depend on the type of laser used. It depends on how much a particular clinic chooses to charge, that’s all.

4

were your GentleLASE treatments by the same person? can you mention what settings were used for most of those? LightSheer is a good laser in good hands as it requires more knowledge on the part of the tech (more variable settings). GentleLASE is set at 3ms pulse, but LightSheer can vary from 5-100 or so. If they won’t use settings of 25 joules and up, it won’t be very effective. Also, they would need to be using the up and down method instead of gliding and compression. I think the only way this can be any different than previous treatments is if the techs were not very good in your past treatments.

also, price doesn’t depend on the type of laser used. It depends on how much a particular clinic chooses to charge, that’s all.

I’ve been to two different people that used the GentleLase on me. I have been treated up to 40 Joules before. Most of the time my treatments were about 28-30 Joules. The last 3 or 4 have been at about 16 Joules as I just went to clear the area temporarily of hair.

No offense, but how skillful really is laser? They set the joules, pick the specific hand piece, press the wand against the skin and push the button. It really doesn’t seem to complicated. It’s not like they have to insert a probe right into your hair follicle at the right angle with touch and precision like electrolysis. Personally, every single laser tech I’ve ever been to after my first one said that they thought my last laser tech was doing it wrong. EVERY SINGLE ONE. And guess what? They weren’t more effective than the one before it. I really think the skill needed to operate a GentleLase or most lasers for treatment of removing hair is a little overstated.

5

What I mean is that setting the settings on the LightSheer in order to achieve results is somewhat more complicated. Since there are 3 setting variables (if spot size is adjustable…I believe there is a LightSheer with 9mm and 12mm, so 12mm would be much better), option to glide, and option to use compression, the result can actually vary very widely.

With GentleLASE, the actual operation of the machine is less complicated since yes, they pick a setting and press and push the button. However, in order to use 40 joules, they would need to use the 12 or smaller spot size, which is basically not that high. Increasing the joules only gives more power at the highest spot size possible. So for best results, they should be using 20 joules on 18mm or 30 joules on 15mm, which are the maximums on the max spot sizes for this laser. Otherwise, those 40 joules are actually give off lower power than using 30 joules on 15mm.

Also, joules etc are not equivalent among different types of lasers. For LightSheer, the higher the joules, the higher the spot size, the lower the pulse, and the more compression is used, the better. RC2001 on this board had good results with LightSheer at around 35-40 joules, 50-100ms pulse, and 12mm spot size I believe and he’s a type IV. If you’re lighter, you can probably go lower on the pulse, which can be set lower for lighter skins for even better results.

6

I have to back Chuck on this one. If he used high joules and had so many treatments it’s highly doubtfull that it was a tech’s fault or lack of experience. The truth is if you are young and hairy laser will not do much for you if you want you hair gone. It migh reduce some, even a lot on some areas but it will not get you where you want to be. Start electrolysis and when you start seeing that the hair doesn’t come back after some time you will be hooked.
For me laser didn’t do much but it didn’t depressed me. It just motivated me to find something else. Get on electrolysis and start from the areas that bother you the most. You’ll get there!

7

What I mean is that setting the settings on the LightSheer in order to achieve results is somewhat more complicated. Since there are 3 setting variables (if spot size is adjustable…I believe there is a LightSheer with 9mm and 12mm, so 12mm would be much better), option to glide, and option to use compression, the result can actually vary very widely.

With GentleLASE, the actual operation of the machine is less complicated since yes, they pick a setting and press and push the button. However, in order to use 40 joules, they would need to use the 12 or smaller spot size, which is basically not that high. Increasing the joules only gives more power at the highest spot size possible. So for best results, they should be using 20 joules on 18mm or 30 joules on 15mm, which are the maximums on the max spot sizes for this laser. Otherwise, those 40 joules are actually give off lower power than using 30 joules on 15mm.

Also, joules etc are not equivalent among different types of lasers. For LightSheer, the higher the joules, the higher the spot size, the lower the pulse, and the more compression is used, the better. RC2001 on this board had good results with LightSheer at around 35-40 joules, 50-100ms pulse, and 12mm spot size I believe and he’s a type IV. If you’re lighter, you can probably go lower on the pulse, which can be set lower for lighter skins for even better results.

I’m going to try a lightsheer test spot to see what it does, but I’m by no means going to spend 1300 on a treatment that isn’t going to work. Hopefully the people in my area will help give me a few test spots on the same area 12 weeks apart at a time, but I don’t count on it. It would be +EV for them, because if I found that it worked, they’d make alot of bucks off of me.

So you are saying, that the larger spot size on the GentleLASE the less efficient it is, but on the Lightsheer it’s the opp. I’m kind of confused. Wouldn’t a smaller spot size always be more beneficial because it is more concentrated energy?

I can tell you I was getting zapped with about 30 Joules for a while, not sure what the handpiece was, but I could see 30 J on the machine. Towards the end I was being treated on 18J just to see clearance. I honestly don’t know for sure if they changed spot sizes those times, or how they do that.

I know that the laser tech had a certificate on his wall though aobut attending the Candela GentleLASE class to learn the specifics of using it however <img src=“/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif” alt=“” />

8

This might help. I am not an expert.

When just considering spot size, the larger the spot the deeper penetration you get with the laser. If your follicles are deep in the skin you need a large spot to penetrate down to the region of the hair that will be disabled/killed. I don’t believe joules has anything to do with this penetration depth.
If the spot size is too small, you can crank up the joules but the laser energy will never reach that part of the hair which needs to be zapped in order to be killed. The hair will get disabled and probably will shed but will not be killed.
I believe this theory goes for all lasers, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
The problems start if you have a strong/stubborn/deep follicle. In order to kill it you have to get deep enough as well as have enough killing power(joules) to kill it when you get to that depth.
The largest spot size(depth) with the highest power(joules) should be most effective. Pulsewidth is another variable with the lower the number the stronger it is (3msec is stronger than 20msec).
Not sure on lightsheer laser but I would assume the above principles would still apply.

9

in all cases, large spot size AND high joules is best. i.e. on GentleLASE, 30 joules is good when 15mm is used. If the spot size is smaller, then the joules don’t give off as much power as they would with a larger spot size.

10

in all cases, large spot size AND high joules is best. i.e. on GentleLASE, 30 joules is good when 15mm is used. If the spot size is smaller, then the joules don’t give off as much power as they would with a larger spot size.

Ok that make since, I emailed one of my old laser operators, and he said he was using 18J-20J with a 18mm spot size, and went as high as 30J with 15MM spot size a few treatments in the past with me. I guess all I knew was looking at the unit and seeing the amount of joules lit up.

Maybe my hair follicles are just so unusually deep that no laser spotsize in relation to power used would able to penetrate that far? Is this conceivable for a reason why I have not been a responder for laser thus far?

I would venture to guess that shoulder, and upper arm hair have much deeper follicles than leg or stomach hair…

11

yes, that is one possible explanation and that’s why electrolysis might work for you. have you had your first treatment yet? what did you think?

12

yes, that is one possible explanation and that’s why electrolysis might work for you. have you had your first treatment yet? what did you think?

Take a look if you like
http://www.hairtell.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/38624/an/0/page/0#38624 <img src=“/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif” alt=“” />

It went pretty well, I mean, I won’t really know if it is actually working until about 12 weeks from now, so I am really anticipating the wait. I have my doubts as nothing else has worked, but out of all procedures electrolysis supposedly is almost 98% successful. I just hope I’m not one of that 2% like I was with laser. I can tell you one thing, the pain compared to laser treatments is no comparison. I can tolerate electrolysis for hours if I wanted. I can barely tolerate a few zaps of laser. I grind my teeth during treatment, and after I’m done I am amazed at how I endured so much pain during treatment. Funny how some people say just the opposite though.