Time during treatments and pulse width

east indian · Joined: 11 Jan 2010 Posts: 14

My tech tells me I need to space my first 4 treatments 4-5 weeks apart. I am using a Sciton ClearScan-yag and I am of east indian origin (type 1V I guess). She tell me that the yag will affect the hairs only in the growth phase and so to get the best results I need to space them 4-5 weeks apart. I am getting my shoulders treated first.

Is this true or a bunch of hogwash? From what I am reading in this forum, my treatements need to be spaced 8-10 weeks apart. I am very confused. Please tell me what is the optimum spacing and the reason for that..

Also what is the significance of pulse width? She did 50 pulse width for my first treatment and 45 for the next one. Is it true the lower the number the deeper the laser penetrates? I am using 40J.. what is the best pulse width for my skin on a yag?

Thanks

blink888 · Joined: 04 Apr 2005 Posts: 6402 Location: New York, NY

- 4 weeks apart is too early on this area. Hair cycles, but not that fast on this area. There is no benefit to treating that often. In fact, if your treatments are effective, there should be nothing to treat at 4 weeks. At 3 weeks, all the hair should shed, then you're supposed to have a hairfree period for another several weeks before enough new hair grows in to require another treatment.

- Is the hair you're treating coarse AND dense? Laser can stimulate MORE hair to grow if it's not, especially on your skin type and on this area

- Pulse width is basically how quickly the shots are fired when laser is applies. So shorter pulse width is more effective because the shots are fired closer together.

east indian · Joined: 11 Jan 2010 Posts: 14

Thanks for the reply..

So which areas would cycles fastest and would warrant treatments 4-5 weeks apart?

Could you point me to some document or publication that I can show this tech that I don't need to space out the treatments this close apart?

What is the downside of going low on the pulse width?

How does spot size tie into this equation and what is the recommended spot size for a sciton yag?

Thanks

blink888 · Joined: 04 Apr 2005 Posts: 6402 Location: New York, NY

- Facial hair has the shortest hair cycles. So 6 weeks is for that area. All other areas are 8-12 weeks.

- You don't need to argue with them regarding timing. No one can force you to come in on their schedule. Things can come up, you can get sick, busy, etc. There is no need to bring this up or discuss. Just call when you think you're ready for another appt or get an appt and reschedule later.

- There are various sites you can probably Google which outline the length of hair cycles on various areas.

- The most important thing is to make sure you're treated well, i.e. overlapping properly and not missing spots. They need to recognize that if a lot of your hair doesn't shed after 3 weeks, it was missed. Over 10% is not acceptable in my opinion and requires a touchup to avoid patchy results. They may try to convince you that not all hair sheds. This is not true. If the hair was affected, it sheds, regardless of what phase it is in.

- Shorter pulse is always more effective. Clinics try to use longer (higher number) pulse width to cater to darker skin types.

- I don't think the spot size is adjustable on this machine. So no need to worry about it. It's fixed. Larger spot sizes are more effective. Good machines like GentleLASE have 18mm spot sizes. Other decent ones have 15mm. Older machines have 9-12mm spot sizes. It depends. This is a decent machine. I don't recall its spot size though. Depends on the model too.