Pinpointe Footlaser

Does it hurt, well the pinpointe footlaser advertising suggests that it is painless so is this true ? Well it is relatively low in pain but yes on occasion the pinpointe footlaser does cause small amounts of pain. Dr Bastin has a vast amount of experience in the use on Nd:YAG lasers including the pinpointe footlaser the truth is there is no way that you can call them pain free, low pain is a better description. The pain from the pinpointe footlaser is kept down by a unique pulse modulation system along with a small spot size. The pulsing of the laser allows enough energy to treat the fungus without causing damage to the surrounding tissues the pulsing allows the blood vessels to carry heat away between pulses.

Other manufacturers use cryogen gas that is sprayed on to the treatment site when the temperature gets to a point where it would cause pain to the patient.

The pulse system works by delivering 10 micro pulses over 0.5 seconds this system is short enough to keep the heat in the layer of the nail where the fungus lye’s the interval between each micro pulse is 0.05 seconds this was found to be long enough to allow the blood vessel below the fungi to cool down this reduces pain to the patient as the capillaries can carry a large amount of the heat away. This results in less pain than one would expect when using a Nd:YAG laser. The 10 Micro pulses deliver 20 J/cm2 over 100 m/s or 200J/cm2 for each spot that is treated.

pulsing used in pinpointe foot laser

Some Podiatrists have used continuous wave Nd:YAG lasers with no form of pulse system or cooling system the result can be severe pain to the patient and also soft tissue damage below the nail.

Pinpointe Footlaser

Pain

The bottom line is most patients tolerate the treatment very well the small amount of discomfort far out weighs the side effects that other forms of treatment cause.

Pinpoint Footlaser being used

Pinpointe Footlaser

What to expect

The nail will look the same immediately following the laser treatment nail grows very slowly and it is this growth that we need before seeing results nothing is generally seen for the first 8 weeks following the use of the pinpointe footlaser most patients start to see results at around the 3 month to 4 month mark. Some patients don’t see any clearing for up to 6 months.

It is fine to cut the nails normally and nail polish can be applied if so desired straight after the treatment. Patients are also to carry out activities as normal straight after the pinpointe footlaser treatment. Women must exercise extreme caution in nail bars and I would defiantly recommend not visiting these after your pinpointe footlaser treatment as this may result in re-infection.