I went today for a consult & they said that after 6 treatments they guarantee the hair removal for 2 yrs from the last laser treatment. Supposedly the hair in that area grows in 3 wk cycles so after the 3 treatments most of it should have been treated & it's as though you're going through them again to make sure you've gotten them all. As a matter of fact they do not recommend having any stubble. Regardless of what part of the body you have done they tell you to shave it off the day before your treatment. They tell you not to tweeze or use a depilatory though. Having any hair will make the procedure more painful b/c the laser ends up having to zap that hair, making it smell awful & also causes more pain at the skin surface vs. if you allow the laser to concentrate on just the follicle. My place requires you purchase the topical cream. I start my treatments next wk! Michie

Catherinet, It is sad that we have to be so careful on line all the time. I was suspicious of both of these docs after reading the web sites. They toot their horns way to much for my liking. One would thing that if this procedure is so wonderful, far more opthamologists would be using it, and using it all the time. The costs are exhorbitant and though they claim that ins. pays for it, if you check with your ins. you will find that they don't. I checked with mine, just for fun today, and they don't pay for it with MA ins. I have BC/BS and have not restrictions on where I go for medical care in state or out, but it has to be a covered service. They told me that the Yag/NG laser is not only not covered by MA BC/BS, but no BC/BS anywhere in the country pays for it, and as far as they know, no ins does. This really peaked me, so called my sister, who lives in Florida and has BC/BS down there. No coverage, she checked with my niece who has different coverage and no coverage. My son in Kentucky doesn't have the coverage. By the time I was through checking with people I know in MA and other states, couldn't find an insurance co. that pays for it. Red flags again, as this isn't a life saving operation. One of the docs bragged that he new only 2 docs in the country that did this, and to me that was a red flag too. So unlike my spinal surgeon , who used a relatvely new method in doing my surgery. It was being done in Michigan only 5 years ago, by one doctor. This doc waited to have it perfected, then published the info in a medical journal with a request for other spinal surgeons to contact him for further info and offered to teach it. This doc divided the country into 25 sections and taught one leading spinal surgeon in each section the new procedure. He chose leading spinal surgeons who chould stay with him for 6 months to be perfected in it. My doc was the first doc to go from the new enland section. He has been doing this procedure for 4 years and is the leading teacher in the New England area for this new technique, which saves so much of the vertebrae in the spine instead of removing it. When you compare this attitude to these docs, you know for sure that something is really fishy with this laser stuff for floaters. I have always been of the thought that G-d gave us 2 eyes for a reason. If we lose the vision in one, we still have an eye to see with. Vision may not be perfect, but one can still see. Also of the thought that surgery is done as a last resort, and experimental and wacky idea surgery is only done when there is nothing else that can be done. Glasses are fine for me. Not having anything cut in my eye because of vanity not wanting to weaar glasses. I like being able to see, same for this laser stuff too. My doc told me the same thing about the floaters and also said that many times they can go back into the viscous fluid, which some of mine have done. The hydration thing really does work. I found myself with worse floaters early today and started pushing the fluids this afternoon and sure enough, they are better tonight. I had some of the vision things at night to and the extra fluids really made a difference. My eye is bloodshot some of the time and the doc told me to use refresh endura drops to help keep the eye moist, especially in the winter with the heat on. that has helped too. Give that a try and see if makes any difference. I use it 2-4 times a day and it really helps. it's not cheap, $15.99 a box. But it has individual doses in it. One thing if you start to use it, you won't use the full dose container at once, just one drop in the eye that needs it. Put the cap back on it and use the rest during the day. don't hold it overnight though. the company wants you to use it just once but the doc says no reason not to use up each individual container. Best place to buy it is Walgreens. If you buy it in quantity, I buy 10 boxes at a time, they will give you a discount on the price. Brought it down to $12.99 a box when I bought to boxes at once. Good luck and let me know if you try the refresh endura and it helps or not.

I just asked my dermatologist at an annual check up if laser treatment can help with a scar left after having a basal skin cell cancer removed. Another derm did the removal; I had let it go for quite awhile so dr ended up scraping quite a bit deeper and wider than the usual small lesion, resulting in basically a patch of white skin about the size of a penny. It's directly above one eyebrow and while not a yuck/OMG/what happened to YOU type appearance, because the scar is so white it's a distinctly different color compared to the rest of my face and very noticeable. Anyway, has anyone tried laser treatments for something like this? Again, the scar isn't keloidal or raised, it's just the skin color that is 'off'. Dermatologist gave me a list of doctors he'd recommend, but as always the gardenweb community is probably the best source of real life feedback :).

Those original lamps are now split between the kitchen lounge and the living room. I think these old lamps are passé now! I had a similar-sized chest on that side and since I had to pull it out to get the ladder in place, I tried this small table. I'd like to find a matching pair of lamps for my master since I like those others in so many places! What about these since they're the same color as my overhead fixture and rods. Modern drum shade? I'm concerned that they're too tall at 31" with shade. These are metallic in color on the base and 27" high: More bookmarked lamps to come...my web has slowed down