James,
Web sites, like any other medium, must be approached with a sense
of doubt and critical thinking. It would be naive in the extreme to accept
received wisdom at face value - whatever the source. That is why I
continue to invite one and all to doubt everything I say. Always do your
own research.
I checked out the latest link that you offered, and found that it includes
a link to Palomar's Laser Hair Removal Information Center - the exact
same site you pointed us toward yesterday! Well that site certainly is
propaganda. It uses false and deceptive statements to con the public.
If the Epilaser is so good, why do its promoters feel the need to
misrepresent it to the public? Is this behaviour ethical?
Also, I completely disagree with your analogy between investment in
the development of space flight and the development of hair removal
lasers. The former has always been almost completely dependent
upon government financing, because it was deemed to be in the
national interest, but too expensive for private financing. So when
rockets failed, the cost was absorbed by tax-payers. That is still the
case for all but a few commercial applications, mainly communications.
Laser hair removal is 99 percent for cosmetic purposes, in most cases
having nothing to do with treating a medical abnormality. So it is up to
private interests to finance its development. I certainly do not object to
investing in the development of this technology, but it should remain in
the laboratory until it can provide results that are worth paying for. As of
now, none of the lasers come even close to offering good value to
consumers.
None of the lasers can produce permanent hair removal, which is the
only way to justify the extremely high cost of teatments. In terms of efficacy,
they are most accurately compared to waxing, which costs 10 to 20 times
less! The only way for doctors to sell treatments is to misrepresent the
probability of achieving permanent reults, through the use of false and
misleading claims. This is bad medicine, for both consumers and
investors.
Ted Molczan |
