Laser Beard Removal
Update: 3/2008
My laser operator, Adrianne Gorman, R.N., who I recommend most highly, can now be found at
2005 Naglee Ave. Suite 50, CA Jose, CA
(408) 295-2937
Update: 1/2007
Well, it's been four years since a laser touched my face, and I haven't had any regrowth. I think that
pretty much proves laser hair removal was permanent in my case. I'm going to give you a summary of my
overall experience, and then you can read the article I wrote when I was just starting out.
Over a period of two years, I had 21 laser sessions. I was seeing dimishing returns after about 6 or 8
sessions, but I was so scared of electrolysis that I went on with the laser. After session 10, I began
using the Meladine melanin enhancer, as you can read at the bottom of this article. I stopped laser right
after that post, and began electrolysis. I did 100 hours of blend electrolysis over a period of a year,
one 2-hour session per week, and then I was done. Now I pluck a few white hairs a few times a week,
and I run an epilator over my face once every few weeks. (Ouch!) I ought to go back for a little bit
of touch-up electrolysis, but I just never get around to it.
The electrolysis didn't hurt any more than the laser. It just lasted longer. If I had it to do over
again—thank GOD I don't!—I think I would do 6 or 8 laser sessions and then switch to
electrolysis, and forget about the Meladine, which is a real pain to apply.
I'm very happy with my result. My face is smooth and my skin wasn't damaged at all. And that's
about how it went. Now let's drop back five years...
2/2002
I have been doing laser beard removal
rather than electrolysis. I haven't seen much discussion
of this method, except for
electrologists's sites
which naturally express skepticism or worse. So I thought I would
relate my experience, and hopefully some of you will share yours
with me in return.
I worte this essay to kick off a
Yahoo group to discuss Laser Hair Removal. Please check out that group for
further discussion and resources.
If you need to understand the laser hair removal process,
try
Laser Hair
Removal
and
Hair Facts.
Here, I will just relate my personal experience
and results.
I am a transsexual woman, so my experience is with
removal of male facial (and torso) hair. However, we
transsexuals are actually a small minority of laser hair
removal clients.
Many genetic women use this service for removing unwanted
facial hair, bikini line trims, and those pesky nipple
hairs. Manly men use it
for back, facial, and other body hair. I will be
happy if my testimony is helpful to you others as well.
As I write this, I have completed 5 laser treatments
for my facial hair. I also had 2 treatments on my chest
and belly hair. I am a good candidate for the laser because
I am light-skinned and my hair is dark. Also my hair is not
very thick to start with. My main disadvantage is a significant
amount of gray hair, which the laser does not affect.
My treatment has been administered at the office of
Dr.
Robert M. Lowen in Mountain View, California (SF Bay area).
Dr. Lowen is a plastic surgeon and he performs the gamut of
those operations, such as nose jobs, lifts, etc. I've never
actually met Dr. Lowen. The laser is run by the very wonderful
Adrianne Gorman. She is a lovely young woman who is a Registered
Nurse with years (10, I think) of emergency room experience. This
made me feel secure going into the program, since I felt she would
know what to do if something went terribly wrong. At this point,
however, the whole thing seems like no big deal to me. While I
wouldn't urge anyone to be less than careful about selecting their
laser practitioner, I would say you don't need to worry about it
over much.
The laser Adrianne uses for this procedure is called
GentleLASE,
a long-pulse high-energy Alexandrite laser system
(wavelength 755nm, 3 msec pulse ) with a cryogen
spray to cool the skin. It does sting pretty good. I use Emla
cream to anesthetize the skin prior to treatment. For the first few
treatments I used it over the whole area that would be worked on.
The last couple of times I just used it on the upper lip area. I
never used it on my chest or belly. The reason is that when the
hair is dense, at the beginning of treatment, it absorbs more
heat from the laser. When the hair is sparser, not as much heat
is absorbed so it doesn't hurt as much.
I'm told that electrolysis hurts considerably more. That's what
I hope to avoid!
It takes only about 10 or 15 minutes to clear the face. This is about
300 shots. It only takes about 5 minuts to do the
torso, because the hair (on me!) is sparse. Adrianne started me out
at 15 j/cm2, later took me up to 20, and I did my last session at 25.
I think she does my chest at 18.
I know some studies suggest
that a fluence of at least 30 j/cm2 is
necessary to effect permanent hair removal, but 25 is painful enough
for me, thank you.
I wish I had a good photographic record to document the results. But I am
a lousy photographer, so that didn't work out. Thus my judgement
of my results is unfortunately subjective.
(I did put some photos in the
Yahoo group, but they're not great.)
Anyway.. I could
see results after the first treatment. After 5 treatments, I am
pretty happy with the results everywhere except the moustache area.
I can easily go 24 hours without shaving, and I can go out with
no foundation, just some beard cover
(Dermablend
-- you can order it from
SkinStore.com) over the
moustache. Prior to starting the treatment, I always wore a very
heavy coat of Dermablend, so this is great progress. (I still wear
foundation as a normal course at work every day, but I feel
comfortable running out to the store or that sort of thing
without it.) My chest and belly hair is pretty much gone with
just 2 treatments.
My plan is to continue more treatments on the moustache area and
probably the rest of the face for a while. I met a guy at Southern
Comfort Conference--an M.D. actually--who said he had 20 treatments,
and felt he was about done. I don't know if I'll go 20 (or need to),
but I'll keep it up for a while and see what happens. One operator
told me she's never had anyone go more than 8 or 9 treatments,
and that's for tough male facial hair.
As for the gray hairs, I may need to do electrolysis eventually
for them. However, Adrianne tells me that there's a new creme on
the market,
Vaniqua, that seems to be
very effective in stopping hair growth. I may see if I get decent
results that way. The down side is you need to keep using it
forever, and I guess it's not cheap. Well, I'll see.
Oh yes, the cost of my treatments. I initially signed up for a
set of 5 sessions for about $1,800. That's just the face. I forget
how much my chest/belly was, but it was a lot less.
My next face shots will be $300 each, for now.
It seems like a lot, but I did a rough calculation, and I think
it's priced to come out about the same as electrolysis. It's just
a lot less time and less pain.
The big question, of course, is, "Is it permanent?" One laser
operator told me she's done her own leg hair and just about everything
else on her body, and 3 years later it's still all gone, except
for the occasional stray. She says she has a girlfriend with the
same experience. I've heard other stories of it all springing
back after 6 months. All I can say is, "I'll let you know!"
—Lannie
Update: 10/2003
This is the second anniversary of my first visit to the laser clinic, and I
celebrated it with Adrianne, my laser nurse. I just finished treatment number 21.
All of my dark hairs were pretty much gone after the first year, but then I started
using Meladine to allow the laser to get at my
gray hairs, which were very
evident once the dark hairs were gone. The Meladine has been effective and has
dimished my gray hairs quite a bit, but after a year of continuous use, I still have
a reasonable amount to work on. (I also noticed that as soon as I started on the
Meladine, a bunch of persistent, stubborn dark hairs on my upper lip came right off.)
I can go 48 hours without shaving and my stubble
isn't particularly visible (this with no make-up at all), but after about
24 hours the stubble is apparent to touch. I've considered going to electrolysis
to finish off the job, but I'm told that electrolysis can also seem to take
forever to complete the last little bit. So I plan to continue with the laser and
Meladine as long as there are hairs to zap, and as long as I can stand it and
afford it.
I've also used laser to remove all of the hair on my chest, belly, underarms,
and bikini area.
I'm very pleased with the results there, and it appears to be permanent, with
only the occassional renegade hair to tweeze. No dark hairs have regrown on my
face, either, indicating that those results are probably permanent, I believe.
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