Question
Hi, i have just undergone my first laser treatment with lightsheer on the 3rd of August. I have a mid-brown skin colour and coarse black hair on my face. When undergoing a consultation and patch test, the nurse concluded with a setting of 15, this worries me due to the number of people using lightsheer, with such high settings, ranging from 24-45. In addition to this, she had to lower the setting, considerably, to 10 on my upper lip, because it was too painful. I am now doubting whether it will be effective at all. I have also encountered slight burn marks, that have now turned into scabs and are peeling away...
Also, my next appointment has been set with a four week interval, i asked whether such a short amount of time is suitable for my hair to grow back, and she said it was fine....is this too soon?
Thanks

Answer
Hi, i have just undergone my first laser treatment with lightsheer on the 3rd of August. I have a mid-brown skin colour and coarse black hair on my face. When undergoing a consultation and patch test, the nurse concluded with a setting of 15, this worries me due to the number of people using lightsheer, with such high settings, ranging from 24-45. In addition to this, she had to lower the setting, considerably, to 10 on my upper lip, because it was too painful. I am now doubting whether it will be effective at all. I have also encountered slight burn marks, that have now turned into scabs and are peeling away...
Also, my next appointment has been set with a four week interval, i asked whether such a short amount of time is suitable for my hair to grow back, and she said it was fine....is this too soon?
Thanks

Answer
wayyy too soon. hair can take 2-3 weeks to fall out. i doubt that it will grow back in a week at all... and even if it does, not all of the hair will have grown in by then. i'm not getting my face done, but my laser clinic told me 7-10 week intervals for the face.
15 is low, 10 is really low. i was told it will work, but it will take longer to remove all the hair with a lower setting. is your clinic charging you per treatment? could be a scam; maybe not. maybe you should try using some numbing cream to help the pain. as long as you're not getting burnt it should be fine. a little bit of swelling and irritation is normal. burning or blistering should be questioned.
if you use numbing cream be sure not to use it on too large of an area and make sure that the % of lidocaine is around 4% or so. high concentrations can be harmful if spread over large areas

Answer
you also say "mid-brown". this seems odd because a setting of 15 is pretty low for someone in the middle of the scale. are you darker than you are letting on?

Answer
Thank you for the advice, I will definitely use the numbing cream, however, i'm afraid that if the setting is raised any higher, my skin may burn. I always assumed that i had a high pain threshold....
I will also reschedule the appointment, yet, this all makes me wonder why the clinic did not consider a 7-10 week interval themselves, and why slight burn marks appeared at all, although i suffered from no swelling or irritation...raising many questions.
I am being charged per treatment, £120 for the full face to be exact. In regards to my skin colour...i wouldn't consider myself to be extremely dark, then again, i may be wrong; I am of indian origin, if that helps...
Anyway, thanks again...

Answer
Well you aren't dark as in BLACK, but Indian skin is pretty dark for a diode laser...have you considered ND:Yag? It's made for your exact skin type, and you are definitely at LEAST Skin Type IV.
Numbing cream won't really help in this situation. I mean you can numb the skin to avoid the pain, but you'll still get burnt. If you were burnt on Setting 10, Setting 15 will only produce worse results.

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For LHR on face the intervals are usually 4-6 weeks. So it isn't too short of a time. I found (from my personal experience) that 5 weeks is perfect for me. Facial hair seems to grow in alot faster than most areas; I had regrowth about 4 weeks after my 1st treatment.

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Wow, such an opposite opinion....
Oh well, i might as well just wait it out , and see if the hair has grown back by then.
Thanks for the responses.

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those settings will most likely not produce results. in fact, low settingson a woman's face like this can stimulate more hair to grow. LightSheer is not a good laser for you, it's made for light skin and dark hair and burns darker skin at settings high enough to actually kill the hair. at those settings, i doubt any hair is getting killed. it sounds like they are doing the treatments on you because they are getting paid for it and they know that it's not a good laser for you since they are being cautious and using extremely low settings. You need to find someone else with a Yag laser which is made for darker skin tones and will not burn your skin.
wait 2-3 weeks and see if you see any shedding. if you don't, definitely find another place with a Yag laser. be aware though, that even if you do, some women report more hair growth on the face after these types of treatments with low settings if you read this forum. if you're not sure about your skin type, check the Fitzpatrick scale online. If you're darker than a type IV, definitely find a Yag.

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It's been a month since i recieved my first lightsheer laser treatment. Since then, almost 80-85% of the hair on my face has shed, showing desirable results. The hairs that have appeared, are thin and hardly noticeable.
However, should i stilll discontinue the usage of this laser, due to the low settings?
Thanks in advance.

Answer
it's up to you. you indicated burns last time, so that means this time even lower settings will need to be set. usually, with each treatment, the settings need to be increased since laser doesn't target finer hair as well and that is what you have/will have after the treatment. i don't see how they can up the settings in this case...you can try a Yag and check out the difference...it's up to you in the end.

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After talking to my tech, she told me that the burns could have arisen due to ingrowns on my face, or stubble that had not been shaven properly.....is this possible?
Also, i spoke to a tech using smartepil, the YAG laser. She offered a package deal of £100 for 1 hour, where i would be able to have any area lasered in that time limit. Does this seem unusual? It is a LOT cheaper though...

Answer
I've heard of places charging by the hour. That would be cool. since you fork over 100 pounds and then get any areas you want.
And you should be switching to a YAG laser. The dark pigment in your skin is absorbing the light from the diode laser and THAT is why you are being burnt. This isn't some rare occurence. It happens everyone using the wrong laser, and high settings. I would absolutely consider the clinic using the YAG laser. Laser doesn't have to burn you and mark you up for the 3 wks after each session. That's not the way it's supposed to work.
And 4-6 wk sessions are the norm for facial LHR. Your hair grows in different cycles from the neck up compared to the neck down. From the neck down you can go 6-8 wks (give or take) and then face is treated at 4-6 wks.

Answer
laser is attracted to the dark pigment with diodes and alexandrites being very powerful in that respect. if your skin is dark, laser heats up and burns your skin along with the hair. that is how you get burned. that's why it works best on light skin and dark hair, because you can set high settings and laser will be attracted only to the hair, not your skin. Yag lasers are made for darker skin types by minimizing the heating of the the skin. with a Yag laser, you should be fine. The skin should be shaved, but a even a bit of stubble won't cause burns.