You can’t compare diode and alex settings in the same way. It’s not an apples to apples comparison.
What settings did you normally use on the GentleLASE (Btw, 18mm is the spot size, not pulse width, which is stable on GentleLASE at 3ms. I’m surprised you don’t know this if you’ve used this machine to treat patients)? Why did you switch from GentleLASE to Lightsheer btw given that GentleLASE is a more powerful machine? Is it because you wanted to be able to treat people with skin type IV?
Do your patients come in at 4 weeks saying that the hair never shed? Do you ask if it did?
I don’t think I was “lucky”. Even if you read the general feedback on this forum, you’ll see that everyone treated at high enough settings doesn’t have anything to treat yet at 4 weeks. The only people who do are those who were treated at low settings. You may want to consider that in your business, or at least do some testing with patients and see if you notice a difference. Treating at low settings results in just temporary damage to the follicle. Eventually the hair grows back. It’s very important to treat at high settings to kill the hair.
Btw, on LightSheer, you’re probably adjusting 2 settings: joules and pulse duration. What spot size does your machine have? If you find that you have to treat people at under 25J and over 50ms, they’re probably too dark for the diode.