Page 292 - Blog Posts v1

So, I took her through my training program and explained how and why this technique works. I explained about the heating of the germ cells (not blood vessels - there's no real evidence for that!!) and showed her the minimum fluences required to target hair follicles across the body.
I then explained how the skin colour has a major effect on both the pain level and other unwanted effects, and how to mitigate against it with proper cooling. I also told her why the Fitzpatrick scale is not applicable in these treatments.
I told her not to worry.
We treated one of her clients, who had already received a significant number of treatments over the years. She had been left with lots of fine hair on her face. She is an Asian lady with a skin tone 4 (according to my meter).
I recommended a mixture of the alexandrite (755nm) energy with the Nd:YAG (1064nm) energy. My trainee was "scared' to use this on such a "dark skin". Her manual told her that she should not use 755nm of this skin colour. I told her that she would be fine as long as we applied the appropriate level of cooling.
The client was perfectly fine - my trainee was still scared but surprised. There was little erythema, as expected, but virtually no pain sensation. The lady left happy as Larry.
My trainee was concerned that her skin would develop a 'burn' or would scar...
Today, the day after treatment, she wrote to me to say that her client's face had been red for a little while, but not 'hot or painful'. Her skin is now 'absolutely normal' - as I expected. And this was after using a wavelength she would not normally use (755nm) at a fluence she would never have considered - 10 J/cm^2. Her manual had suggested only 1064nm at a useless fluence - which explains why the results were so lousy.
Her exact words are "You really have proved my laser manual is crap and I can go much higher." Says it all!
Mike’s Blog Posts 292