Getting Laser Hair Removal Treatment in Thailand and the USA - Which One is Better?

Over the last few years, I have had laser hair removal treatment at two clinics in the USA and two clinics in Thailand. Treatments in both places were effective for my excess hair problem, but the clinics in Thailand were far superior to the clinics in the USA. Here is why.

When I lived in Los Angeles, I used to go to a doctor in Beverly Hills every few months to get laser treatment for hair removal. I've always had a few dark hairs that grow around my mouth and I hate them. I hated plucking them, waxing them, bleaching them - nothing worked very well and it was just annoying. So about eight years ago, I decide it was time to get laser hair removal treatment. I made an appointment at a well-known Beverly Hills laser hair removal clinic and went for my first treatment.

I was very surprised to discover the actual laser hair treatment hardly hurts at all. You just feel a little twinge, sort of like somebody snapping a rubber band on your skin. Then another little twinge as the laser is zapped on your skin again. For the area I had treated around my mouth, the treatment took less than five minutes. As I mentioned, the treatment was perfectly effective in the USA, but far superior in overall experience in Thailand.

In Beverly Hills, I called to make an appointment and was told I would have to wait at least a month. As I was going to one of the top clinics in Beverly Hills, I wasn't too surprised so made an appointment for a month later. When I called to make an appointment in Bangkok, at one of the top clinics in Thailand, I was able to make an appointment for only three days in the future.

On arrival at the doctor's office in Beverly Hills, I had to sign in and fill in some paperwork then was asked to wait. On all twelve or so occasions I went to that clinic and on the more than ten occasions I went to another similar Beverly Hills clinic, I had to wait at least forty five minutes every time. In Thailand, I arrived for my appointment, filled in a short form giving my personal details and was immediately shown into a room and was introduced to the laser technician, who spoke excellent English and was trained in the US.

In Beverly Hills, once my forty five minute wait was over, I was shown into a room and had to wait another ten minutes for the laser technician. When she did show up, the treatment consisted of rubbing some cream around my mouth to make the area cooler, then three or four minutes with the technician zapping away around my mouth with the laser. Once the treatment was over, the technician wiped off the cream and the now dead hair with a tissue, said "Come back in a month" and showed me out of the room. When I got back to my car, every time, I was always annoyed to see a huge red swollen welt around my mouth, which would always take at least an hour to dissipate. I couldn't go anywhere until the welt had disappeared and often spent an hour sitting in my car listening to the radio.

In Thailand, the experience was completely different. Once I had been shown into the technician's room, I was told to take off my shoes, disposal slippers were provided, and then I climbed on the bed and lay down. Soft, relaxing music was playing and the smell of jasmine from the beautiful flowers by the bed made me feel immediately relaxed.

First of all, the technician rubbed a cream all around my mouth and then wiped it off with a tissue. This was to clean the area. Then she applied a very cold gel, which cools the area and numbs it slightly. She left the gel on for five minutes, talking to me all the time and was lovely and friendly. After the gel had done its job, she removed it with a tissue and then set to work with the laser. In this treatment, I didn't feel anything as the cold gel had numbed the area a little bit. In three or four minutes she was finished. Then she applied another cooling cream and left this on for another five minutes. She wiped this off, finished my treatment with some aloe vera gel, which she applied on the treated area. My entire time in the laser hair removal clinic in Bangkok was less than thirty minutes.

Unlike in Beverly Hills, when I looked in the mirror in Bangkok, there was no trace I had even had laser removal treatment. No welts, no red marks, no slight swelling, my face just looked like normal. When I left the clinic in Bangkok, I immediately went for lunch with friends. My face looked so normal there was no need to sit in a car for an hour waiting for the swelling to disappear.

In the US, all I felt like was a number. I was made to wait until it was convenient for the doctor to treat me. Wheeled in and wheeled out, and bundled out of the door as soon as they were finished with me so they could wheel someone else in.

In Thailand, I was treated like a valued customer. I wasn't kept waiting, I was treated politely, respectfully and very friendly employees. I left the clinic after treatment with no sign I had ever had laser hair removal treatment and no embarrassing welt on my face.

The best thing though is the cost. Laser hair treatment on a small area of your body at the clinic I went to in Beverly Hills was $700 for 5 treatments. In Thailand, at one of the best clinics in the city, the cost for 5 treatments was $160.

You can guarantee now, if I want laser hair removal treatment I always have it done in Thailand and, when I'm in the US, I always wait to get treatment until I come back to Thailand.

Feeling like a valued customer makes me want to remain one. Being treated like a number to be shoved around and made to wait makes me want to never go there again.