Am I Being Scammed? First Laser Hair Removal Treatment

The discomfort level during the treatment depends on the type of laser used and how dark your skin is. Laser settings should be adjusted based on how coarse the hair is and how many treatments you've done in the past. With dark skin chances of side effects are higher and we need to be careful when treating sensitive areas, such as bikini for example. You cannot request a stronger treatment- the technician should use their judgment when choosing the energy. As long as you go a board certified plastic surgeon or dermatologist, you won’t have to worry about the effectiveness of the laser and you should get good results.

Laser hair removal is a procedure which requires multiple sessions, irregardless of technology.  Typically on olive skin, it is better to start with a lower setting than higher setting and work your way up.  An experienced team and technician can help deliver a safe and effective results and will work with settings tailored to you.

Hi Amy.  The settings for laser hair removal are not as important as the way the skin looks (tissue reaction).  The procedure should involve some discomfort (even if you have a high pain tolerance) and cause follicular edema (redness) and ant bite marks (small bumps around the hair follicles).  

The settings, assuming one of them is for fluence (joules per centimeter squared) would be low for our Yag laser.  We usually start in the 45 - 55 range with a 30 pulse width.  

But instead of looking at settings, we would be searching for a practitioner with an alexandrite or diode laser, NOT the Yag.  You will get better results.  You may not be getting scammed, but there are better options for you in terms of the technology.