Page 147 - Chapter 3 - An Introduction to Laser/IPL Hair Removal

Chapter 3 – Fundamentals of Laser/IPL Hair Removal 1st Edition
Pain level – what is a good level?
How do we know if the fluence is sufficient to achieve a good outcome? Well, one simple technique is to simply ask your patient/client how much pain they experience during the treatment.
On a scale of 1 to 10, we recommend a level of between 6 and 8 – more than 8 is too uncomfortable in most cases, while below 6 will probably not be sufficiently hot!
This is very much a ‘rule of thumb’ approach though because different people will have different tolerances. Also, if your skin surface cooling is very good and efficient, they may not feel much pain at all!
So, please use your judgement in all cases.
PAIN = 1 / Skin Cooling
Remember, the more cooling you apply before and during the treatment, the less pain they will feel!
Freezers and ice packs
As discussed before, we recommend the use of frozen ice packs to cool the skin efficiently – before and after the treatment. Often, we are asked if a standard fridge is ‘good enough’. The reality is that a fridge typically cools to around 4 or 5oC, whereas a freezer can easily go below 0oC.
As soon as you remove an ice pack from a fridge or freezer, it will begin to heat up. This limits the length of time you can use it. Obviously, if it was cooled in a freezer, you can use it for a much longer period of time, compared with a fridge cooled pack!
We recommend using a freezer, but it’s your choice.
Skin cooling
We cannot emphasize this enough – skin cooling is absolutely CRITICAL!!! Poor or insufficient cooling will inevitably result in skin damage. It will also make the treatments more painful with the likelihood that your patients/clients will not return.
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