Hi i am white male with black hair ,skin Type II ( SOME hair have pheomelanine in it i.e kinda reddish when looked facing a light source)
I have been treated with Lightsheer ET 9mm spots beam, since 2 years with increasingly power from 36 Joules to 60 Joules (auto setting) (6 to 10 weeks aparts)
My last 3 treatements at 60 joules is somewhats painfull and i average 12000 hit by session!
BTW no Candela Gentlelase in the area
After 11 TX i’d say a have achive good result but not that those i looking for
here my questions
1- since the Auto mode is the Fluence devide by 2 … I realise that i have been hit lately at 50 ms and my reading here tell that is too slow (lightsheer have AUTO setting and 100 ms so i can’t go any faster)
Is it better to lower the fluence to achive faster hit?
2-His is absolute big no-no to put ice on the area before the hit (i use ice cube 7-8 sec on the skin surface to numb it before the laser hit) cus at 60 Joules it is very painful at some area .(thinking about temperature decreasing in the skin and that goes agains the purpose of destruction).
3- Can i achive the SAME result with my Lightsheer that with a Gentlelase (even if i have to endure more tx)
Thanks for those you devote their knowlegge to us …
(BTW don’t be to hars wit my spelling… english is my second language
I haven’t been treated with a Gentlelase, but the Lightsheer has worked quite well on my face, removing even fairly light hair. The maximum setting I’ve experienced to date is 36J/30ms.
Wiping the lens between shots helps prevent the skin surface from overheating because it a)removes any dark residue that may be heated by the LASER beam, and b)allows the tip to cool. If this is done, properly, using ice should not be necessary.
FWIW, according to the information provided by the owner of the clinic I use, if the skin color is no darker than untanned oriental and the handpiece refrigiration is in proper working order, and the operator uses gel and sufficient pressure and wipes the lens clean between shots, the laser can be set to 30ms at 60 Joules/cm should the hair type require that setting. A test shot is obviously necessary before each treatment.
The green square in http://jps.ac/p-nain/index.files/image016.jpg shows a test spot twenty minutes after it was treated at 60J / 30ms. (The white arrow points at razor burn, and the yellow shows a test spot done using IPL equipment that the owner developed on his own.)
It should help to decrease the pulse. The lower you can go the better. I would try 20ms for example. If you can handle 60J, it shouldn’t be a problem. But of course, test the skin first. Pulse makes a huge difference. The reason GentleLASE is so good is because it’s pulse is set at 3ms. You can probably keep the joules in the 40s and just lower the pulse as much as possible as long as your skin can handle it safely. There are also LightSheer machines with 12mm spot sizes out there. Not sure if that’s an option for you. Another thing important about this machine is that treating using compression and up and down method vs gliding helps with results.
Your red or lighter hairs may not be affected no matter what.
You should space your treatments 10-12 weeks apart. 6-8 is too little. If you have enough hair to treat at 6 weeks already, something is not right.
Are you seeing full shedding of all treated hair 3 weeks after each treatment?
Have you considered using numbing cream for areas that hurt most?
My Technician tell me that she only have 3 settings on the LightSheer ET… 30 ms, AUTO (she tell me that is actually fluence /2) and 100ms.
*If i follow this: i always raise the time (in ms) if i crank up the fluence!! gaining on one side and loosing on the other!!!
My tech use up and down technique with great deal of pressure and she making square grid with red ink to ensure a good overlapping and not missing area.
For the other area: now i space my treatments @ 10-12 weeks like YOU guy advise (thanks that save my $$$$$, i shred also… and yes i use EMLA for some area but the numbering with ice for few sec is more efficient but i wonder if this ACTUALY decrease the laser capacity to KILL.
In that case, definitely always use 30ms if your skin can handle it. Joules in the 40s should be fine and effective if the hair is coarse enough. If that’s not working, it may not be coarse enough, especially for a diode.
I sorry to be kinda slow …
but if i try to understand… say that i set the Lightsheer ET at 50 joules and AUTO… That should equal to (50 joules and 25ms ) is this setting better than a setting of 50 joules at 30 ms?
and just to understand…if i can tolerate it … more joules (say 50) is it always better at killing hair than lower fluence (say 36)
They use actual ice or the cooling device found on some laser machines (feels just like ice, during my first treatment I thought it was ice myself until she told me it wasn’t.) They use a topical like EMLA (their own lidocaine and some other *cane mix) and the cooling device on me. You might want to ask if they could do that if pain is a problem.
