Different parts of your body require different amounts of treatment. Due to the fact that the hair has to be in a growth cycle, in an active growth cycle on the skin surface to be affected by the laser, every part of the body has a different percentage out at a time and are in different growth cycles. So for instance the underarms would take four to five treatments two months apart versus the legs or the back a less percentage is out on a skin surface at a time, so you are talking six to eight treatments maybe three months apart.
When you are making a decision on which machine you should use that is right for you there are few things that you need to take into consideration. 1. Is it an actual laser or is it a broad spectrum light. 2. What type of laser is good for your skin color, Alexandrite or Nd:YAG. 3. What accreditations does the person have that is running that machine on you? Are they state licensed? Do they have the certificate they need to and have they had the training that they should have.
There are different types of lasers used for hair removal. They all have different wavelengths. There are only three wavelengths that are specifically at the depth for hair removal and for safety and the most effective. One would be a 755 nm which is an Alexandrite, one would be 810 nm which is a diode, and the third would be a 1064 nm, which is an Nd:YAG. Of all of those three the most effective with the highest percentage of removal is the 755 Alexandrite. An Alexandrite laser can treat anywhere from the head to the toe.
Some patients do ask about eyebrows. Obviously depending on how high the patient can lift their eyebrows out of the range of the safety goggles would depend on whether we can do their eyebrows, but anywhere from the scalp to the toes the body can be treated. There is nothing on the market to this date that is 100% permanent hair removal. No type of treatment out there. What you are looking for is the highest percentage of removal. Lasers target melanin or pigment, so if that hair is dark the percentage with an Alexandrite laser is going to be 70 to 95% permanent removal. Now with that being said, you will need to come back on subsequent treatment for those new growth cycles that do come in.
There are two different types of machines that are used for hair removal. One would be an IPL and that is a broad spectrum light, it is not actually a laser and then you have a laser. A laser is specifically set at a wavelength for targeting the follicle of the hair and killing it.
I have been here for 14 years and I am now the charge nurse for the office for the plastic surgery center and the last 9 years I have been running an Alexandrite laser for hair removal.
My duties as the medical director here at the West Florida Surgery Center brought me to become very interested in the health and wellness of our patients. In 2004, I became certified in age management medicine also known as anti-aging medicine.
A very exciting new field of medicine that primarily focuses on people aging in a more graceful manner and it includes a good solid diet, always important with not caloric restriction entirely, but portion controlled, better choices in your diet. Exercise, we advocate highly that everybody exercise, also resistance training as well as cardiovascular training. Hormone supplementation if needed and that is all determined by a large panel of lab work showing your specific hormone levels and do you need replacement and then a very exciting aspect of age management medicine that we are becoming very interested in is vitamin and nutraceutical supplementation.
There now exists a device called the Biophotonic scanner that is capable of measuring your skin antioxidant levels not invasively. It does not involve taking any specimen, no blood draw, no saliva. It is a low level laser light scanner that can measure the level of antioxidants in your skin. We can prove to you that your vitamins are actually working. Come and be scanned, we invite all our patients to come to the surgery center, we have this device, and we offer it to you to come in, have yourself scanned and know your antioxidant level and we can teach you good solid educational information on how you can improve that situation for you.
There is a factor involved with having cosmetic surgery that makes it different from having surgery that you know you absolutely have to have for medical condition. Because it is elective surgery, that many of our patients come in extremely nervous. They are very anxious about their surgery and that is normal. We do not think there is anything out of the ordinary for patients to come in being very anxious and nervous and concerned, “What am I doing”. We are here to help you with that. That is why we sit and talk with you prior to surgery to help calm your fears and let you know that we are here to take care of you and we are watching for your every safety.
The surgical experience is very different for patients on a very personal level. It is dependent upon what type of surgery you are having, your age, your overall medical condition, and whether you have had surgery before, all those things are factors that go into how you experience what you have here and how you feel afterward. We try to talk about that at some length before you go to the operating room, what to expect.
As the primary provider of anesthesia services here at the surgery center, patient health and safety is our primary concern. It begins in the preoperative holding area, sometimes even before that when patients are interviewed preoperatively. The charts are brought to me for review ahead of time, but if I have not seen their chart ahead of time I will always speak with every patient prior to surgery and get to know you, have a feel for you and your health history, all that is very important. Besides the fact that I will be with you continually during surgery and we are very vigilant in the operating room and postoperatively to make sure that you have a safe experience while you are here at the surgery center.
My name is Amy A. Griswold. I am a physician, the medical director here at the West Florida Surgery Center. Prior to becoming a physician, I was a registered nurse. It was nursing that introduced me to the possibilities of becoming a physician. I was trained at the University of Miami School of Medicine and went on to do my training in anesthesiology at Jackson Memorial Hospital also again in Miami. I have been here collaborating with Dr. Scott and Dr. Leikensohn since 1995, and since 1999, I have been the medical director at the surgery center.
