Danielle Brooks, RN
Laser Nurse
Danielle treats hair removal and pigment plans and leads the deeper-skin-tone protocols with the long-wavelength laser. She is the person who explains what a test patch should look like at forty-eight hours.
Skin types IV to VI · hair removal
San Diego is a city of types IV, V and VI, and most burns we hear about happened on skin like yours with a device chosen for someone else. We plan it differently.
- The long-wavelength laser for deeper skin tones, chosen at the Skin Read, never a one-device-for-all approach.
- A test patch on the area, checked at forty-eight hours, before any full treatment.
- The same nurse every session, photographs tracked, and a written reaction protocol before session one.
- Plans priced the same as every skin type: from $395 for a small area.
Prefer to talk first? (619) 555-0147
Settings readout
What the plan says, before session one
Results vary from person to person. Nothing on this page is a guarantee of outcome, and a treatment may be declined after the test patch if it is not right for your skin.
Skin types IV to VI · hair removal
Laser hair removal
- Device family
- Long-wavelength laser for deeper skin tones
- Sessions
- 6 to 8 in a plan
- Interval
- 6 to 8 weeks
- Sensation
- A hot snap with cooling; slower passes than lighter skin
- Plan price
- $395 small area, same as every skin type
- Maintenance
- One or two sessions a year
Why it works
Hair removal lasers aim at pigment. On deeper skin tones the skin has pigment too, so a device or setting chosen for lighter skin can heat the skin instead of the follicle. That is the burn, the dark patch or the light patch people describe. The device we use for types IV to VI reaches the follicle while passing the surface more gently, and the Skin Read records your type before any decision is made.
We go slower, we cool more, and we check a patch first. It is a few extra days at the start of the plan and it is the reason the plan exists.
- Step 01
Read
Skin type, sun history and medications recorded by a nurse practitioner. One test patch fired.
- Step 02
Plan
A written plan: device, settings range, sessions, interval, price and a maintenance forecast.
- Step 03
Track
The same nurse every session, with photographs at sessions one, four and final.
Candour
For
- Skin types IV to VI, including skin that tans deeply and easily.
- Anyone told elsewhere that their skin was "too dark for laser".
- Anyone who has had a dark or light patch after a laser elsewhere and wants it planned properly this time.
Not for, or not yet
- Skin with a fresh tan or sun in the last two weeks. We wait, every time.
- Active skin conditions on the area; the Skin Read checks and Dr. Vasquez decides.
- Light or grey hair on any skin type, which the laser does not see.
Results vary from person to person. Nothing on this page is a guarantee of outcome, and a treatment may be declined after the test patch if it is not right for your skin.
Who treats you
Named on every page, by design.
Leila Haddad, NP
Lead Clinician, Nurse Practitioner
Leila runs every Skin Read: the exam, the skin typing, the sun history and the test patch. She writes the sessions-and-settings plan you take home and treats most resurfacing and IPL plans herself.
Illustrative stories. Saltgrass is a fictional studio; these are written examples, not patient reviews.
I was told elsewhere that my skin was too dark for laser. Danielle did a test patch, waited two days, and then we started. No burns.
The patch check took five minutes and it was the first time anyone had looked at my skin before firing a laser at it.
Can laser hair removal be done on dark skin?
Yes, with the right device and settings and a test patch first. We treat types IV to VI with the long-wavelength laser and never with the device we use for lighter skin.
Will it leave dark or light patches?
That risk is why we test a patch and wait forty-eight hours before any full treatment. If the patch darkens or lightens, we change the plan before treating further. Results vary, and we say so.
Does it take more sessions?
Often one or two more than lighter skin, because we treat more gently and let the skin settle longer between sessions. The plan says six to eight and we review at session four.
What about a tan?
A tan on deeper skin still changes how the laser is absorbed. Two weeks out of the sun before and after, every session.
Who treats me?
Danielle Brooks, RN, leads the deeper-skin-tone plans; Leila Haddad, NP, does the Skin Read. Dr. Vasquez is in the building.
Skin Read · 30 min · complimentary
Thirty minutes with a nurse practitioner, the test patch included, and a written plan to take home.