Page 85 - Chapter 3 - Laser/IPL Hair Removal

Chapter 3 – Fundamentals of Laser/IPL Hair Removal 2nd Edition
2) They do not apply the correct parameters, instead using too low a fluence, or too short a pulsewidth;
3) Their equipment cannot generate the correct parameters in the first place (this occurs far too frequently).
In addition, many operators apply their equipment to the skin poorly leaving significant areas untreated, or leaving ‘gaps’.
The ‘efficiency’ is a measure of how good the treatment is at the time of that treatments. This depends mostly on the skills of the operator and the equipment. So, taking these into account, we assumed that we cannot realistically expect a 100% efficiency when treating hair follicles.
We then looked at lower efficiencies and found the following:
Efficiency %
Number of sessions required – upper lip
100
2
80
4-5
60
5-6
40
9-11
20
14-16
Table 17 – The total number of sessions depends on the efficiency of the treatment
So, we can clearly see that the total number of sessions depends very strongly on a number of factors:
the ‘efficiency’ of each treatment which depends on the applied fluence and pulsewidth;
the intervals between sessions;
and how good both the operator and the equipment are!
Many laser/IPL clinics quote a typical treatment interval of 6 to 8 weeks, which means they are treating too soon, in most cases – this leads to an excess of treatments!! They also quote between 6 and 8 treatments in total, to effectively removal all the hairs in any area.
According to the calculations above, this shows that most clinics are operating at below 60% efficiency, or thereabouts!!
________________________________________________________________________ 85 Chapter 3, Ed. 2.0 Laser/IPL Hair Removal
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