I am sorry to hear that. What color is your hair? What skin tone? Have you considered going to another laser place, preferably with excellent ratings, that has an in-house dermatologist with many years of experience, particularly with laser hair removal? Get consultations at SEVERAL DIFFERENT well-rated places nearby you, as to whether you should proceed with laser (at a different place) or electrolysis. The place you may be going to, may not be using the correct settings for you. If you have light colored hair to begin with, it may already be difficult to get good results. Wishing you best results in the future...!!
Hi winwin, I was using diode for my entire full bikini area for the first 2-3 treatments. I then switched to a different laser center which uses Alexandrite/ND:Yag lasers instead. I have gotten about 4 treatments with the new system.
I switched laser centers because I was not seeing good results in my labia area with the diode. The diode head seems harder to manipulate to get all the hairs in the inner labia, so it may have been that the tech @ the 1st place was missing those areas.
I have been satisfied with the improvement at the new laser center. She is using the proper settings I believe on the Alexandrite/ND:Yag machine. The head for this laser is smaller and uses a better cooling system. It blows very cold air on the treatment area while at the same time operating the laser.
It is better than the first laser place using the diode which was just using ice packs to keep the place cold. The ice packs were melting on my skin and the water was interfering with proper laser absorption in my skin, so that may have also contributed to lack of good results in the beginning.
If you started off with diode, continue on through until the 3rd treatment and see if you get any good results/hair reduction. And make sure she/he uses the proper cooling system, preferably a cool-air blowing one, rather than watery ice packs. The water condensation really does interfere with proper laser hair removal from what I have read.
There are four basic categories of lasers which are used on people: Ruby, Alexandrite, Diode, and ND:Yag.
The facility I go to uses the GentleLASE Plus laser system from the Candela Corporation or the Apogee Elite by Cynosure for my fair-medium skin tone.
However, since you have darker skin tone, they would likely use the Coolglide Excel Nd:YAG from Cutera or the Apogee Elite Nd:YAG, since they use these laser machines for darker and/or tanned skin tones.
I would suggest going to a facility which has ND:Yag available, but also some others to choose from. Alexandrite and Ruby lasers may not work well for you, but then again, you must see a certified laser specialist (ask for their certificate, check to see it's up to date) who will visually examine your skin tone and hair color. Many places offer free consultations. I would highly suggest doing this first.
Hi winwin, mine is also the same, lighter on top but darker on the labia areas. So my laser specialist technician used the setting for Hispanic skin, but still used Alexandrite, I believe.
That's why she used to change settings when she did my labia area. However, after 5 treatments with the "changed setting" for my labia, I noticed my labia hair was not really reducing that dramatically in hair density, so for the treatment I just got done (like a week ago), she decided to do Alexandrite (same setting) as my top area for my labia area now.
This was just a week ago, so I'm waiting to see the results and I can let you know. It itches for a while especially during the first week because the hairs are growing out, so I believe it's normal, but ask your laser specialist anyway just to make sure. Mine felt more sore than itchy, but the feeling goes away after the first couple of days for me. What treatment number are you on?
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