Question
Hey everyone, I'm a new poster but have been reading the forums for a couple of months. I just went in for my 3rd treatment and I was wondering if the settings on me were too low.
First off, I'm 22, male, and consider myself having type III skin (I can tan very easily with little or no burn). Anyways, I went on vacation a week after my second treatment, knowing that it isn't a great idea to do this, but i went anyways and just lathered myself in sunscreen. I still got some tan of course. Well i went in today to get my third treatment, about 6 weeks after my second.
My first two treatments were at 20 joules with an alexandrite but this time the settings were changed to 40 joules since my skin was a little darker (chest and abdomen). She said she just didn't want to burn my skin. The laser still felt like it did when I was at 20 joules too. There is about as much, maybe a little less redness as my two previous treatments as well.
Was this setting too low?

Answer
Hey everyone, I'm a new poster but have been reading the forums for a couple of months. I just went in for my 3rd treatment and I was wondering if the settings on me were too low.
First off, I'm 22, male, and consider myself having type III skin (I can tan very easily with little or no burn). Anyways, I went on vacation a week after my second treatment, knowing that it isn't a great idea to do this, but i went anyways and just lathered myself in sunscreen. I still got some tan of course. Well i went in today to get my third treatment, about 6 weeks after my second.
My first two treatments were at 20 joules with an alexandrite but this time the settings were changed to 40 joules since my skin was a little darker (chest and abdomen). She said she just didn't want to burn my skin. The laser still felt like it did when I was at 20 joules too. There is about as much, maybe a little less redness as my two previous treatments as well.
Was this setting too low?

Answer
40 joules is higher than 20. so not sure what you mean by "decreased". typo here? what area are you treating? in general, good results are produced at settings of 25 and up or so, although 20 maybe be ok on an alexandrite on the first treatment. What kind of results did you see after the first two treatments? Did all hair shed?

Answer
I was getting my chest and abdomen done. In my first two treatments there was complete shedding, although, almost all of it had regrown. The most reduction was near my belly button and "happy trail" but it wasn't a ton. I was told that some parts of my body will react differently and will see quicker results than others. They also said that by the 6th or so treatment, I will see much better results. I can definitely see however, that the hairs growing back are thinner, is this a good sign?
You are right, now that I think about it, 40 joules is a higher setting than 20 joules. Maybe I heard her wrong and I was at 40 joules my first two treatments and 20 joules this treatment. Is 20 joules high enough then?

Answer
20 joules is ok for the first treatment or so when you just start, but you should definitely be going up to 30-35 for best results. Hair grows in 3 phases and can only be killed in the first, anagen phase of growth. So if everything shed and settings were high the first time, then the hair you saw "grow back" was other hair that was dormant before and now resurfacing. You should see results by treatment 4 or so. It's not an overnght difference of where you don't see any results after 5 treatments and magically see results after the 6th. It's gradual. So if you don't notice results after treatment 3 or 4, something is not done right. most likely settings are too low. Good signs is redness around the follicles for a day or 2 and shedding after treatments.