Question
I had my first treatment last week. The tech thought I wqas a Fitzpatrick 3. I have light skin and dark hair. I am getting my underarms and upper legs treated. The tech used a 24/30 millisecond setting. I hardly felt the treatment. There was no pain except for an occassional sting. Afterwards, my skin was not red.
It is now one week later and some underarm hairs are sliding out, but not on my legs, yet.
My question is: Do you have to be in pain for the treatment to be effective? Does your skin have to be red afterwards?

Answer
I had my first treatment last week. The tech thought I wqas a Fitzpatrick 3. I have light skin and dark hair. I am getting my underarms and upper legs treated. The tech used a 24/30 millisecond setting. I hardly felt the treatment. There was no pain except for an occassional sting. Afterwards, my skin was not red.
It is now one week later and some underarm hairs are sliding out, but not on my legs, yet.
My question is: Do you have to be in pain for the treatment to be effective? Does your skin have to be red afterwards?

Answer
not necessarily, but wait 3 weeks and see the results. if everything that was hit sheds, you're fine. what laser are they using? the settings are different depending on the laser. you need to know the joules and the spot size used.

Answer
The underarms usually respond better after the first treatment, commonly the legs do not see much of a difference until about the 3rd treatment. The energy should be high enough to see what we call an endpoint - which is perifollicular edema (looks like mild red swelling around hair follicle) and/or smell of burnt hair. If you got no redness either immediately or delayed onset it maybe that they should turn up the energy, being careful not to get too high to cause a burn or blistering. As long as you see the end points you know that you are getting the most out of the treatment. If you are truely a type 3 you should have some discomfort (compared to a type 1-2). It's good that you are still seeing results, but again make sure you are getting the most out of each treatment safely.