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Hello, I'm Tom Sult.

I love practicing medicine and I have a passion for what laser medicine has to offer our practices, laser clinics and our patients.  I hope you will find my thoughts informative, helpful...thought-provoking.  I'm eager to hear your comments.  Read more about me here.

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Medical Laser Blog - Fotona Straight Talk for the Physician

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Laser Hair Removal Seen On TV Talk Shows: Marketing Vs. Science

Posted by Thomas Sult MD on Mon, Dec 14, 2009 @ 01:53 PM
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So what is it better to have? The best science or the best marketing? Depends. If you are selling a "thing", it’s marketing.  If you are selling a service, it’s science!  In marketing the theme is “don’t sell the stack, sell the sizzle”.  Well that is all well and good, but when you as a doctor are selling a service, it is results that matter.  Results are achieved by science.  Results make your patients happy.  Results bring in new patients.  

The laser hair removal market is filled with wild claims that, while marginally true, are deceiving and lead to disappointment from both doctors and their patients.  One company claims to be able to treat white and gray hair.  Even its own literature shows that it will reduce white and gray hair by about 10%.  This is a clinically insignificant number and can be achieved by most any system.  But they market white and gray hair.  Guess what… you buy such a claim and the result will be your patients (and then you) will be very unhappy.

If you take a look at most companies web sites, you will find they are marketing driven.  It is hard in many instances to find out what wavelength they are using and in some cases if it is a laser or something else.  They sell application specific devices.  They have one for this and one for that.  This is great for the company - they sell lots of boxes - but not so great for you.  You need a high quality, science-based, versatile device to accomplish your services.

That is why I have Fotona Lasers - they are science driven.  Look at the web site.  Look at the White Papers.  For instance “Scientific Evaluation of VSP Nd:YAG Lasers for Hair Removal” written by myself and others.  While “they” talk about gray hair, Fotona delivers the goods!  Under promise and over deliver - that is what you get from Fotona.
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Comments

Given science has always found useful APPLICATIONS for their inventions its always changing.(From sometimes the one that has a bunch of inventory) Unfortunately the APPLICATIONS if the device really works is up to the field, that buys the device to do the that APPLICATION. Selling a Gynecological instrument that later is great for Podiatry is nothing new. The trailblazer needs to have true results to share. Do they work for the company too! Been there done that.
Posted @ Monday, December 14, 2009 6:05 PM by Eric Cimber
Yes I agree. Many times old things get recycled as new. The truth is science advances slowly and marketing advances quickly. You will notice that Fotona has not jumped on the band wagon of proprietary wavelengths or other hollow bells and whistles. Fotona uses the long standing, tried-and- true laser wavelengths that have been proven over the years. They have simply mastered them. They have created better power-supplies, better control of the laser discharge (variable square pulse), better optic (flat top) and better delivery (OPTOflex arm with Vacuum Cell Technology) This of course is an up hill battle from a marketing perspective, but it is truth. Under promise and over deliver - that is the Fotona way.
Posted @ Tuesday, December 15, 2009 4:05 PM by Jennifer Childs
thanks for your post, really good blog and important to read
Posted @ Wednesday, January 06, 2010 6:10 AM by day spa new york
It is great Laser Hair Removal removes the hair forever, though remember you need more than 5 treatments to get smooth hairless skin.
Posted @ Wednesday, January 06, 2010 4:19 PM by Permanent hair removal Toronto
To Permanent Hair Removal Toronto:  
That is correct, sort of.... It will take not 5 treatments but the treatment of at least 5 growth cycles. Many hair removal clinics will put a patient on a fixed schedule of hair removal. To get optimal results, one needs to fit the treatment schedule to the growth cycles of the patient. Treating a patient before a good growth cycle has started is all but a wasted treatment. Treating a patient this way requires some flexibility but is one of the reasons for our superior results. Regards, 
Dr. Tom Sult
Posted @ Thursday, January 07, 2010 9:20 AM by Jennifer Childs
The products are varied and specially designed for body, legs and the underarms so as to give a good effect without any rashes or burning sensation.
Posted @ Saturday, January 23, 2010 3:06 PM by hair removal
Laser hair removal is an easy, painless cool method to get rid of hair. You need few treatments and you can have smooth, silky skin. 
 
However, it is not permanent. I think electrolysis is the only permanent hair removal method.
Posted @ Friday, March 19, 2010 5:15 PM by Laser user
zdrava.marija@gmail.com: I think you have been misguided. Laser hair removal is generally not painless but then neither is electrolysis. Laser hair removal is a permanent reduction of hair. Remember that there are up to 400 follicles per square cementer of skin. Most of these follicles are not growing, most are dormant. At various stages of life hormones or other biological triggers can turn on more follicles. So any method of hair treatment will not be the elimination of hair growth but the reduction of hair growth. A laser can scan over an area and treat ALL of the actively growing follicles. In the case of electrolysis each hair follicle must be treated individually with a fine wire. So only if your electrolysis operator has the patients of Job and your patient has all of the time in the world will the results be as good as a laser that is able to scan over all of the follicles.  
 
In case you are a skeptic... A study conducted in 2000 at the ASVAK Laser Center in Ankara, Turkey comparing alexandrite laser and electrolysis for hair removal on 12 patients concluded that laser hair removal was 60 times faster, less painful and more reliable than electrolysis. Görgü M, Aslan G, Aköz T, Erdoğan B (January 2000). "Comparison of alexandrite laser and electrolysis for hair removal". Dermatol Surgery 26 (1): 37–41. Another study J Cosmet Laser Ther. 2001 Dec;3(4):175-9. CONCLUSION: The long-pulse Nd:YAG laser is an effective and safe method for long lasting hair removal in all skin types. The delay in hair regrowth most likely explains patient satisfaction.
Posted @ Monday, March 22, 2010 7:34 AM by Jennifer Childs
Laser hair removal is an effective way of getting rid of undesired body hair. It is a painless and permanent hair removal technique offered by number of spas. This treatment is for everybody which means that people with any type of skin can undergo laser hair removal technique. 
http://www.findhairhelp.com/laser-hair-removal.html 
Posted @ Monday, May 10, 2010 6:57 AM by Hair Removal
Gail~ I agree with most of what you have to say.  But the painless part is not always true.  The pain is dependent on the type of equipment used.  As an example, if you use an IPL or shorter wavelength laser it will have a significant affinity for melanin. That will result in a lot of heat deposited into the skin, thus resulting in pain and possible skin injury.  Only longer wavelength lasers such as Nd:YAG should be used on all skin types as it has a lower affinity for melanin.  Some companies will tell you that a long wavelength laser is not suitable for lighter skin types.  We find that claim laughable.  In our clinic we do hair removal on Type I through Type VI skin with the same laser (Fotona XP Max), with great results.  Due to our computer controlled scanner and non-contact cooling we have minimal discomfort.  Pain is a function of wavelength, spot size and power.  Many companies will use a large spot size to gain more speed in hair removal.  This results in more heat at the center of the spot (heat can't dissipate as rapidly) and more pain.  Also the potential for more side effects (burns) on the skin.  With a computer controlled scanner one can use any spot size you choose and get computer accurate coverage with less pain due to a smaller spot and less heat at the center of the spot. Take a look at our white paper on hair removal and the computer controlled scanner.
Posted @ Monday, May 10, 2010 10:27 AM by Jennifer Childs
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