Epilation

1. What would be the first step upon the arrival in Epilion for hair removal treatment and would there be performed some hair analysis or the analysis of the haired skin?

The first step is certainly a conversation with our doctor who is a derm specialist and additionally specialized in laser dermatology. It should be known that the best effect is achieved if the hair is dark and strong. A dermatologist will also ask about other factors that could impact the effectiveness of your treatment.

2. Which body part would be good for laser hair removal “test”?

Since the strongest hairs are those in the bikini line and armpit areas, the best results are achieved there and we would strongly recommend for every woman to start with laser hair removal of these very parts of their body. It is important to note that the laser is safe to epilate all body parts except for the areas around the eyes and the only requirement would be black and strong hair.

3. What are the intervals between the laser hair removal treatments and how many times the same area should be treated in order to definitely remove all the hair?

It usually takes 4-5 treatments (if everything is fine with your body). Since the laser permanently destroys the hair follicle in the active growth phase, the procedure must be repeated in about 6 to 12 weeks depending on the treated body part, when the hair follicle, being in the phase of the regression and the resting phase, reenters in the phase of active growth.

4. Is it allowed to use any other hair removal method during the laser hair removal treatments if a patient needs it (due to aesthetic reasons)?

It is important to know that 3-4 weeks prior the laser hair removal treatment, the hair should not be bleached, tweezed or waxed to prevent the damage of the hair root. During the preparation, the hair could be removed only from the skin surface, meaning the use scissors, razor or depil cream. In between the treatments the hair should also be removed only from the surface. If you remove your hair from the root between the treatments you would only increase the number of treatments that means the amount of money spent… Of course that it would best suit us you don’t take these advices!

5. Are there people who are not eligible for this treatment, and whose skin cannot “handle” laser?

Patients need to be educated and it should be explained to them the differences between medical lasers, cosmetic lasers and IPL’s. Of course that the improper use of dermatological lasers can cause serious skin damages, usually momentary, but sometimes even permanent. That’s why people who come to Epilion are not treated as mere beauty salon customers, but as patients accompanied by the complete anamnesis and the appropriate supporting documentation; moreover, the treatments the last generation lasers are performed by properly trained derm specialists. There are a lot of negative experiences where patients misled by pompous advertisements, false promises and the low cost offers, have spent their time and money and did not get the desired results. Most often it happens that a salon acquires cheap IPL device and immediately starts to advertise “laser treatments”!

6. How many laser treatments are needed and are they painful?

It takes a minimum 3 treatments, and in general 3-5 treatments with 2-3 month break in between (depending on the treated area), but only for those patients with balanced hormonal status, who do not undertake any serious medical treatment at this time and who do not use any photosensitive products. During the treatment a more or less intense burning sensation is felt, depending on the body part treated, as well as the density of hair follicles of particular skin area and the individual pain tolerance.

7. Are there any adverse effects and whether the procedure is safe?

There are no absolute contraindications and no adverse effects. This method is local and completely safe for health. Often, patients report the story that some other physicians told them that “they still don’t know anything accurately about the laser effects on hair and glands.” Our answer to those patients is to change the doctors who advised them this way, because this colleague obviously hasn’t refreshed his knowledge for the last 15 years!! What is extremely important is that everything that may affect the quality of treatment with reference to your individual health condition would be reconsidered by our dermatologists during every examination or prior to any laser treatment.

8. How large may be the skin area that could be treated during one laser hair removal treatment?

You could treat the desired area in single treatment regardless of its size if it is done by a modern laser. The more expensive the laser is the faster and more comfortable treatment it is for a patient. We have rarely treated the entire body at once, but it could be achieved by splitting the session into phases. It all depends exclusively on patient’s wishes.

9. How long does the effect of laser hair removal last after the completed treatments?

Hair removal lasers are in world’s use since 1996. Epilion is the first center of this kind in the region; it works since the year 2000 and many thousands of patients were examined and treated there. Therefore, our experience speaks for itself.
A laser treated hair could never regrow ! It is the “sleeping” hair that probably would not have been growing ever in a first place if it wasn’t triggered with something (pregnancy, hormonal therapy, etc.)

10. What are the average laser hair removal costs for full legs, forearm, pubic area, upper lips and others?

The laser hair removal cost depends on the treated area and it is set individually for each patient. The exact price is set during the free of charge examination. For detail information please refer to the www.epilion.rs/services

11. How to nurture the skin after each treatment?

After the treatment, the skin appears slightly red. These symptoms are temporary and disappear very soon so that you can continue with usual care. This method is characterized by the fact that there are no absolute contraindications.

12. What is the most recommended period of the year to perform the laser hair removal?

Laser hair removal could be performed throughout the year, but it’s good to start the procedure during the fall or winter since one of the preconditions is skin being light and untanned.
Maybe our women will finally realize that solarium can do more harm than good. Nevertheless, we have a laser that could treat the dark skin hair, so that we are busy even when the others aren’t.

VBeam

13. What is VBeam Laser and why is it safe?

VBeam laser provides powerful yet skin friendly light beam that selectively destroys blood vessels into the capillary network or other vascular lesions without destroying the surrounding tissue. After the laser treatment the surround tissue remains unharmed and pigmentation unaffected. VBeam laser treatment is actually so safe that is used for PWS treatment (port wine stain) of even very young children. During the procedure, DCD system is activated and it sprinkles frozen gas cryogen before and/or after each laser pulse making the patient feeling more comfortable.

14. How could VBeam improve the appearance of scars and stretch marks?

Currently, there is no method that can completely remove scars or stretch marks. VBeam laser can improve the appearance and condition of the majority of scars and stretch marks in a twofold manner: by stimulating the production of human collagen in the deeper layers of the skin and also by eliminating vascular components (redness). It takes only a few treatments for a significant improvement, and the progress depends on the size / depth of the scar or stretch marks. Most patients notice improvement after the first 6-8 weeks of treatment. It is important to note that although VBeam greatly improves the appearance of scars and stretch marks, it cannot completely remove them.

15. Are there any particular reasons why I could not submit to the VBeam laser treatment?

VBeam is not recommended for patients with natural darker complexions, since in these cases the laser will be less efficient in coagulation of the blood vessels and other vascular lesions treated. The VBeam laser beam penetration depth is limited to vessels up to 1.5 mm deep in the skin. Therefore, the blood vessels that are located deeper than 1.5 mm may not respond to this treatment. In addition, the blue blood vessels react even worse than red, thus they are treated with XP Max Laser.

16. What can I expect from VBeam treatment?

For the facial capillaries, one treatment may be sufficient, but it is possible that it would take more treatments. Treatments are performed every 6-8 weeks depending on region and type of lesion. Red capillaries response much better than the blue ones, as if the smaller and diffused blood vessels are more responsive than those thicker than 1-2 mm. PWS lesions are complex and thus require more treatments, but the exact number cannot be predicted.

17. Are there any adverse effects to this treatment?

There are potential side effects from any laser treatment if it is improperly conducted.
The potential VBeam adverse effects include:
• Treated area may appear darker after the effects of treatment are gone (very rare, temporary, 3-5 months after the treatment).
• VBeam treatment can’t cause the scars except from those cases if the patient did not comply with the given post-operative instructions.

18. Is the VBeam treatment painful?

No, the DCD system, which is an integral part of the VBeam laser, sprays cooled gas in milliseconds before and after each laser pulse (length of cooling could be adjusted). DCD system is in charge for reducing the pain intensity during the treatment and for prevention of blisters and scabs. In some cases, the anesthetic in the form of cream is applied only upon patient’s request. VBeam Laser pulse feeling could be described as a mosquito bite. After the laser treatment one may feel light burning sensation or warmth as after sunbathing. Before the treatment a patch test could be done to determine individual the pain tolerance. The vast majority of patients submitted to this procedure handled it without anesthesia. The use of a cold compress immediately after the treatment may reduce any discomfort of the patient.

19. How long does this treatment last?

Duration of treatment depends on the size and number of the treated lesions. For example, it takes less than one minute for the capillaries on the nose, up to 5 minutes to remove the redness on both cheeks, while the treatment of severe acne all over face can last up to 10 minutes, owing to the laser VBeam high technology.

20. What happens after the treatment?

Depending on the type and location of the treated lesion, patients may have different results and require individual care during the post-operative course. Some patients may develop local irritation or redness that could last from several days to several weeks. Usually, the redness disappears within a few hours. If the patient wants it, it is possible to resolve everything in one treatment, but the after treatment purpura may last up to 10 days.

21. What is fractionated laser?

Usual laser includes one laser ray inside the laser beam while fractionated laser encloses hundreds of them. The first laser of this kind was “Fraxel” and it has been in the marketplace since 2004. Two years after this model, all current fractionated ablative lasers were produced.
The weaknesses of “Fraxel” laser are painful treatments, then the requirement of marking the treated area blue, the large number of treatments as well as the long treatment length.
In new ablative fractionated lasers, these shortcomings have been removed, the results are better and it takes fewer treatments. The shorter the wavelength of the laser beam, the smaller laser penetration into the skin. Thus, the number of the required treatments increases as in case of the already out-dated Fraxel laser. Its wavelength is 1550 nm. Newer fractionated lasers are tuned on 2940 nm or at 10600 nm are penetrating deeper into the skin and producing much better results.

22. How does the ablative fractioned laser work?

It provokes skin damage leaving into the skin small cylindrical reparation while the skin surface remains impaired only to some extent. The damaged part under the skin regenerates within next 7 – 15 days whereas body generates new connective tissue. As a consequence: wrinkles, scars, pores, stretch marks and pigmentations have been removed. Laser leaves on the skin marks like an imprinted net with visible small white dots that represent the laser beam trace on the skin, and between these spots remains the undamaged skin. Because of that intact skin, wound recuperates fast and the recovery process is rapid. Underneath each of the white dot, there is a skin damage that could be most closely described as a stab. The risk of infection is minor because the skin surface is unharmed. It is the process of replacing the old skin and longstanding connective tissue with fresh skin and new connective tissue. The first results are visible few days after the recovery period. In the long run, during the following months, the treatment triggers the growth of deeper connective tissue so the final results appear 6-9 months after the last treatment. The treatment may often cause re-pigmentation in places where the pigment was lost that is extremely important for removal of white/old scars and stretch marks. It is not possible to return the pigmentation 100%, but the skin contrast could be significantly toned down.

23. Is this treatment painful?

The treatment is painless. You could feel tickling, slight “burning” and heat during the treatment. Local anesthetic is not necessary, otherwise in the most sensitive patients (upon their request) EMLA, topical cream anesthetic is applied.

24. How many treatments are needed?

Depending on the severity of skin changes, it takes 1 to 3 treatments. The interval between treatments is 2 to 5 months. The laser passes treated area from 1 to 5 times. The result depends significantly on the number of laser passes and the pulse power. The more passes and the larger power, the better results are achieved, but then again it takes longer recovery period. The larger number of passes (or pulses at the same spot), the deeper penetration of the laser beam is achieved.

Erbium

25. How do I look after Erbium laser treatment?

Depending on the laser power pulsation and the number of laser passes, the treated area gets changed:
Mild treatment: 1 or 2 passes, reddish skin appears as if you were fall asleep during the sunbathing which withdraws after 1 or 2 days. You could be already back to work the day after the procedure and put some concealing make up.
Moderate treatment: 3 – 4 passes, skin appears bronze and during the first two days after the treatment it gets a bit tanned. Make-up could not disguise everything because during first three days the changes are the most visible. After 3-4 days the skin slightly flakes and then those changes could be concealed with make-up and you could get back to your work. The skin may appear light red few days after the treatment which withdraws soon. If you have started your treatment on Friday, you could go back to work on the next Monday morning.
Aggressive treatment: 4-7 passes, the same treatment regimen as in the case of moderate version, but the skin gets more tanned and the recovery lasts few more days. If you have done your treatment on Thursday, you could go back to your work on the next Tuesday.
Light peel treatment (the best effect/recovery rate): The recovery period lasts as in the case of mild or moderate treatment. Right after the recovery, the huge difference is noticeable and the improvement characterized by the new skin radiance appears!

26. Post-Treatment Care

After erbium laser treatment, you would receive the individual instructions from our specialists on care products you should use during the following days. During the first three days after the treatment, it is necessary to apply moisturizer more frequently, depending on skin condition. You should also frequently use cold refrigerated chamomile compresses in order to eliminate the treated skin as soon as possible. After using the compresses, the skin should always be re-moisturized. After the first three days, the compresses are not needed any more and the number of moisturizer application is reduced. The attending a solarium and exposure to the sun should be avoided, especially during the first 30 days. If you hope for shorter recovery period, then you should use gauze, first dry then moist, to gently sweep treated skin. The treated skin would gently flake and peel afterwards.

27. What are the possible complications?

Complications are very rare and temporary and they occur mostly because of patients’ disobedience to the given instructions. If you follow the advices of our doctors, the probability of the possible complications is insignificant.
• After the treatment, you must not be exposed to the sun or attend the solarium because of possible pigmentation. The treatment could be done during the summer, if you could avoid longer sun exposures.
• Probability of scar development is trivial
• It is likely that the treated skin would be slightly red and it withdraws in few days
• In very sensitive skin, the swelling of the treated area may occur, but it soon disappears if there were more laser passes included
• Patients with oily skin could typically experience short term skin worsening for pores being clogged with cream, which also soon disappear.
• Infections almost never develop. In order to avoid possible herpes infection that is entirely independent and not related to this treatment, the anti-herpes therapy is included

28. Any further questions?

Should you have any further questions or require any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us via contact page or by phone at:

011/3111-411

and we will be happy to answer you!