Looking at getting laser hair removal on chest, abs, back, shoulders and underarms. I am a type III with dark course hair. The IPL is a package of 5 for $2662 and free treatments for the remaining 12 months. The Candela is $4275 which is considerably more and has no free treatments after the package of 5 (follow up treatments at a reduced rate if needed.) The IPL seems like a better deal but I am concerned if it will do as good a job as the Candela as I have read posts that state IPL doesn't do as good a job in the long run. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

USE THE CANDELA you wont be sorry!

IPL will not do it in 5 treatments! Candela is better by far, but I would shop around for a better price!

I agree the laser is your best first choice.

IPL takes about 10 treatments and much more follow up. It has much less power than laser and is not as effective to get to the roots. Candela laser is great and designed to get to the roots, but shop for better price and don't be shy to ASK for a better price. Use the new price to negotiate with other places again and again until you get the best possible deal.
good luck

H.A.

I disagree with you on the idea of looking for the cheapest person to do your treatment. If they are the cheapest there is usually a reason.

is the candela really affective on darker skin types? and if so is there only one candela laser...the one im looking into is the Candela GentleLase and GentleYag ...the clinic uses a combination of the two...any feedback would be greatly appreciated! thanks!

IPL is only waves and could burn your skin!!! candela laser will target the folicule, you will need between 6-10 sessions.

Thank you all for your posts! This has definately helped me!

? if ipl is a wave and candella is targetted pulses, would ipl be better for someone with a large "patch" of hair, ie the chest....?

Also those prices seem a little crazy. I got quoted $600 for IPL for six sections in Australia from a reputable clinic. Haven't Sussed out candella prices though.

So confusing! Also this won't kill off any other tissue or muscles will it? I'm a male body builder.

The truth about hair removal.

Hair removal is a function of biology. The hair follicle can only be killed during a phase of growth known as anagen phase. If the hair is not in anagen it will not be killed. Depending on the area of the body you will have about 10% to 20% of the follicles in anagen at any time. In addition the average ½ square inch of your skin will have 400 or more follicles. Obviously not all of your follicles are active now. That leaves plenty of follicles to activate latter in life due to hormones or other effects. In addition it is the reason that some IPL have shown an increase of hair growth, they stimulate some of these dormant follicles. For these reasons you will need 5, 6 or more treatments timed to your hair growth. In our office (www.aestheticsofwillmar.com) we treat generally at 6-week intervals but tell patients to cancel their appointment if they are not seeing new hair growth (new Anagen phase). Any system can kill a course dark hair the issue is safety.

An IPL is a bright light with some filtration. But if the IPL is labeled as an example 1000 nm, it is a band of light from 1000 nm down to say 600 nm. A laser is a single wavelength. For that reason a laser has better discrimination as to the target it is hitting. The idea is to miss the melanin cell that give your skin its type III color and hit the hair more specifically. I use a Fotona XP MAX laser with VSP technology (www.fotona.us) to accomplish this on all skin types. But lasers are expensive.

So why on earth would anyone in their right mind pay $150K or more for a hair removal system?

Let me tell you why, this is from my own practice. We have been in the practice of laser medicine for about 9 years now. About 5 years ago the local ENT clinic decided to get into Aesthetic medicine. They rent space form the eye group in town. One of they eye guys is a friend of mine. He let me know of the plans. Their plan was to purchase an inexpensive IPL. I invited our eye doc friend over to our clinic to show him why that would not likely work. Our friend “got it” and ask the ENT to come over and see how we could collaborate rather than compete. The ENT was having nothing of it. He was going to put us out of business.

No need to worry. The treatments at the ENT were painful, sometimes burned people and had marginal results. Many come to us for a second opinion. Once they are treated by our superior technology they are ours.
In the end you get what you pay for. An inexpensive IPL, or a real laser with full authority over bean quality and delivery, it’s no contest (link to Hair removal photos: http://fotonamedicallasers.web5.hubspot.com/hair-rem-b-a/). The ENTs?... They don’t do much in the way of hair removal anymore. But hey thanks for the referrals!

So in short I would go with the laser.

Tom Sult, MD

Hi All,

This was a good post to read. I had a question regarding what is a fair price for laser hair removal treatment for full chest, full back (till waist), shoulders and arms 3 treatments as I just want to thin the hair on my arms

The clinic said they will use candela YAG & Alex and will provide 1 year of maintenance period. If someone can help me with a ballpark figure quote I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

I am getting the Gentlelase for $300 for 9 treatments for a Christmas special I found.

Happy to have found this site and have read the exchange of information in the posts.
Living in Italy, it is very difficult to find good deals as I could only find one doctor treating hair removal and using the Candela laser... No possibility of finding any special offers, therefore... Does anybody have suggestions for me?
Thanks a lot!

I am 65 looking to have hair on chest and arms removed, any suggestions for good but inexpencive place to have my hair removed in Massachussets?

Candela gentleLASE laser , available at leahs wax works located in parramatta westfield, hurstville westfield, miranda westfield, bondi westfield and eastgardens westfield . now on special $70 for underam and brazillian . $220 for full arm, $330 for full leg .

If you are 65 and the hairs are grey...you wont see any result. The hairs have to be dark, course, and black. Candela is ALWAYS the way to go.

Hi all,

still don´t know which one is the best way? Laser light Sheer or Candela Gentle Lase?
So which one should I take?

Anna

I'm 61 and have white hair (grey) that I color treat. I wanted the lip, chin area done and gone! One poster is saying that grey or light hair can't be done?? Will one of the experts please comment on this as I very much want to permanently remove (as much as possible) these hairs on upper lip and chin. If it makes a difference, I am on an antii-estrogen drug because I had cancer. Thank You, hope to hear an answer as there isa special price being offered thru Groupon. Thank You for listening.