Bee Sting Like Pain During LHR of Legs. Houston, TX

In late May I went to a very reputable med spa in my city and tried LHR for full legs. I have medium Asian Indian skin tone with many large pores on my legs that due to folliculitis have some pigmentation. I have dark coarse hair and there is a good contrast between my hair and skin tone. I was told that I was a good candidate and they used the ng yag laser. Let me tell you - it was a terrible experience. I had excruciating pain - this was no snapping sensation but full on bee stings. I had to take many breaks and it took 1.5 hours with the technician telling me that there was nothing she could do about it. She did not recommend numbing cream. I tool advil finally bc I was sobbing and drenched with sweat. There was a very cold freezing tip that she used, concurrent to the zaps but I still felt the zaps intensely. they turned the settings down and she told me that I was not going to get more than 10% decrease this first time bc the settting were not high enough. Even the lower settings were painful. I was finally done with the torture and left. I got a good response from this session - most of the hair fell out and I had no adverse reactions after. Hair grew back slowly by 8 weeks. That was the only good part. I was scarred mentally and did not want to go back.

I did research meanwhile and called a bunch of places. I found one med spa that offered the Candela system. I mustered up the courage and tried it today. They gave me some trial zaps at various settings so I could feel for myself how painful it was. When i realized it was nothing like the first laser, i went ahead with full legs and underarms. It took them 20 mins to do full legs - NO PAIN! I also did underarms which were less sensitive than the legs! I bought their package and I am hoping that this system actually delivers results without pain for my skin type. that's the only concern - that I went from unbelievable pain to nothing based on switching lasers so hopefully it works. But I have been reassured by the technician who sounded and acted way more experienced than the first place.

I wanted to share my experience with others who might have had severe pain from LHR - there are newer lasers out there for darker skin that appear to work well without pain. I am just very upset with the med spa I had my first treatment at - they should have been honest when I was struggling so much and told me that they laser they used was likely not the best for me. I have called the owner to give him feedback.