Dermaray FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

1. Who or what is Dermaray?

Dermaray is the brand name for what we believe is the most innovative and safest personal UV and LLLT phototherapy devices on the market today. As we call it "Phototherapy without compromise." the latest technology has been used to build the most effective, highest quality, unique, flexible, powerful and SAFE phototherapy devices.   Dermaray products are covered by a full 2 year warranty.

2, Who are you guys anyway?

We are an Australian registered company, trading since 1998. Both the company and company directors have a long history in the medical electronics industry.  Our corporate web page can be found here; http://www.tcgindustrial.com.au.

3. What makes Dermaray different?

Superior safety and convenience; having tested a number of laser comb and UV phototherapy lamp products currently on the market, we came to the conclusion that current products were generally difficult to use and provided no safety features.

Dermaray products all incorporate proximity detection sensors, these sensors are used to determine when the comb or lamp is within a few centimetres of a treatment area and only then safely activating the treatment. These sensors are also used to help keep track of treatment time helping to prevent over and under exposure.

The real time clock, calendar and memory incorporated in all Dermaray products keeps track of all patient treatment times and dates, this allows the unit to warn against over usage and gradually increase and decrease treatment times based on usage patterns, again helping to prevent against over and under exposure.

The Dermaray products include a number of pre-determined treatment tables for different conditions and skin types which greatly simplifies product usage. On initial product start-up users a re presented with a configuration wizard where user enters the time and date, skin type and treatment areas, the Dermaray takes care of the rest! Treatment times are all automatically calculated and questions asked after initial treatments to help ensure against over exposure. Multiple users and treatment areas can be programmed into the unit.

4. How are Dermaray products more powerful and also safer to use?

A competitor has already answered this question very clearly. "The current generation of the laser brush and laser comb products also use collimated or focused laser beams but do not have the protection of a cut-off circuit. In short, there are no safety mechanisms generally in use that would prevent either inadvertent or, in the hands of a child through the actions of curiosity or play, potentially hazardous eye exposure to multiple laser beams from a home care product. To quote the IEC for a typical class IIIR product "The laser beams from these products exceed the maximum permissible exposure for accidental viewing and can potentially cause eye injuries, but the actual risk of injury following a short, accidental exposure, is still small". But how small a risk is acceptable for a home use product design?" All Dermaray laser products DO include a safety cut-off and Dermaray UV products DO include a safety activation process. So by the above admission, Dermaray products really are the Next Generation of laser and UV phototherapy devices.

While our units come with a  standard configuration our OEM customers benefit from te ability to customise the products to their specific needs.

5. I was considering an expensive hair loss clinic or salon

There is nothing magical about so called "medical" hair loss treatments. The simple fact of the matter is you can achieve the very same treatment (other than an actual hair transplant) in the privacy of your home for significantly less money; in fact often better treatment at home. While some clinics have done a good job in convincing the general public they need to pay $4500 every 3 months for their program of either re-grow recently lost hairs or retain existing hair. The simple fact of the matter is Sex Sells.  Frequently clinics use attractive attendants to shampoo, massage and then apply Minoxidil followed by a laser therapy session. Often with a very old or low powered "clinical" laser system. Just because a laser system looks big and impressive and is endorsed by sports stars, does not necessarily mean there is any significant laser output.

When you go to a hair loss salon, you should ask yourself a question. Am I speaking with a medical professional? or a proessional salesperson? More recently these high profile hair loss salons have struck arrangements with doctors to prescribe medications such as Propecia or similar hormone inhibiting drugs. Generally the attendant providing the "medical diagnosis" and recommending your "treatment" is only a sales person and not a doctor or medical expert at all. Something they will only admit to if pressed for an answer.  You may think you are speaking with a doctor or nurse but actually speaking with a "practice manager" or "practice assistant." Essentially this is a sales person eager to earn a commission on your purchase. Usually a doctor is not even available in the same building. Typically the doctor is only responsible for prescribing the drugs as a legal requirement. A sales assistant has no qualification to recommend medical treatment to you as the patient. Usually among the paperwork that you sign to undergo the treatment programs you are signing a declaration simply allowing the clinic to collect your prescribed drugs from the pharmacy that dispenses the medications on your behalf. This keeps you coming back to the clinic and spending money there on a regular basis. There is absolutely nothing stopping you seeing your own genuine doctor, obtaining your own prescriptions, and shopping for price on your medications from a variety of local pharmacy outlets. There is absolutely no need or requirement to return to this "clinic" for your monthly refills.

There is no magic hidden or secret ingredient in shampoos, no exclusive herb or supplement with any notable scientific backing that can possibly justify paying hundreds of dollars for a single bottle of "exclusive Minoxidil," "specialist vitamin supplement" or "hair loss shampoo treatment" with elusive ingredients available exclusively from these salon chains.  Your local pharmacy and supermarket with have brand name vitamin supplements designed for hair, skin and nail health. Interestingly each of these major hair loss clinics has share holders, board members and CEO's who are primarily interested in profit margins and the profitability of their organisation. We say shop around, do your own research, and do your own treatment at home for a fraction of the cost and many times more conveniently.

All you are really getting is A)  Minoxidil B) Propecia C) Laser Therapy. All of which you can obtain yourself for home treatment at a fraction of the cost and effort. Dermaray also offer complimentary treatment packs that can be used separately or in conjunction with a Dermaray Laser or Dermaray UV device.

6. Where are your before and after pictures, testimonials and product comparisons?

We have more respect for our customers, and more importantly, our potential customers (you) than to bombard you with deliberately deceptive or completely unrealistic results and therefore give you unethically high expectations. Clearly information presented in this manner will consist only of the very best possible results. Any doctor will confirm that no treatment works the same for every person, and some people do not respond to some treatments. So we ask, where are the before and after photos of patients who were not satisfied with their treatments? Strangely omitted from fancy marketing based web pages. Similarly some published medical studies refer to "laser systems" or "treatment system" which actually refer to use of a laser device in conjunction with other medical treatments such as topical steroids, Minoxidil or Propecia etc. We are taking a stand against questionable marketing practices and openly invite you to compare apples with apples and make an informed buying decision when  presented with measurable specifications and the facts. Please note that our products are available with or without complimentary treatment packages. The same logic applies to testimonials.

7. What about a money back guarantee?

Guarantees and return policies are generally provided on products with extremely high retail margins, are sold  on emotive arguments, or by high stressed sales people under pressure to sell quantities of products at any cost and when a product is in over supply.  We do not offer a trial period or a return policy after use, at this time, as our products are not in over supply.  We manufacture to demand. This ensures we always have the latest product design in stock and the device you purchase is essentially brand new and has not been warehoused for 12 months before your purchase. We are interested in absolute customer satisfaction with the quality of our products that we do sell, not being under pressure to sell quantities of products.

Our strategy is not to flood the market with countless Dermaray devices, but to properly develop and support the Dermaray that we do supply.   We know with technical certainly that there is no better product available and Dermaray is already in high demand by customers who are properly informed, have done their homework and simply want to own and use the most capable hand held laser or UV lamp on the market.  We absolutely guarantee our product specifications are as advertised.

8. Do you post on internet chat rooms and internet web forums?

As a general rule we do not - unless specifically mentioned in a posting. Apart from the occasional visit when referred to a particular posting for comment by a customer, we do not participate in online forums or chat rooms. Even a simple glance at postings will see that some manufacturers stalk and infiltrate these systems to slander their competitors and promote their own products. We firmly believe  that a superior product will sell without effort. We have no interest in open discussions, debates or arguments in a largely public and anonymous medium where ulterior motives are plainly evident. Nor are we interested in hosting our own censored and blatantly bias user forum.

9. I have seen posts on internet web forums that say it costs $5 to build a laser comb!

Yes, over the years we have seen these posts too.  In nearly all cases they are anonymous posting by people with little real technical expertise. Dermaray devices have been in development over a significant amount of time. The actual development costs are astronomical. We can assure you, a single quality high powered laser module costs considerably more than $5. In fact, one on our laser modules costs more than the retail price on some low end laser combs containing many inexpensive lasers. Low quality LEDS and low yield laser modules are available, and not doubt used in some other designs, but we have chosen the best possible components for use in Dermaray - without exception. We make this challenge to the anonymous "techies" - "If you can provide a more powerful device, move convenient, more flexible and more SAFE phototherapy device, we will buy it from you!" Evidentially, we never hear back from them.

10. I have seen another laser comb cheaper online, will you match the price?

No definitely not. We are not in this for the money, in fact, we realise that not every person can afford a Ferrari, nor can every patient afford a Dermaray Laser or Dermaray UV. We realise that Dermaray is not for everybody. However, we have seen with our own eyes other brands have significant quality control issues, faulty designs, high failure rates and general poor customer service and not to mention questionable personal ethics. We know this first hand as we used to sell them! Realising fundamental mistakes by other manufacturers we set about to do things perfectly; ethically and correct from the word GO. Our commitment to you is to be different. VERY DIFFERENT.  We have started this process by sparing no expense. Once you see our full specifications, you will understand the lengths we have strived for to achieve this goal. We do not care if we sell one unit a day, month or year.  We do no care to be the largest most glamorous manufacturer or the supplier who moves the highest quantities. We know in our hearts that we are offering the very best personal phototherapy equipment available to mankind. Once you have done your research we are sure you will come to the same conclusion. If not, we would love to hear from you to know how we can improve again. If you are interested in performance, quality and innovative features, you simply can not look past Dermaray.

11. Aren't high powered lasers potentially dangerous?

We believe ANY laser is potentially dangerous, more so if highly focused or spot focused like in some less powerful devices. Even a 5mW laser is  extremely hazardous to the unprotected eye. Many laser combs based on low powered lasers actually need to focus their laser to a point, making this point extremely hazardous to the human eye - even from a long distance! That is why we developed the first hand held phototherapy devices (both laser and ultra violet) with patent pending proximity based safety technology that greatly reduces the change of accidental exposure. Our safety proximity detection is available in all Dermaray hand held devices but may be applied differently. We are genuinely concerned with your safety, and the safety of others around you.  The requirement for increased user safety has always been our highest concern. We do not understand and can not believe that most other suppliers do not incorporate a single safety feature - the only possible reason is to keep their production costs low and profit margins high. For added safety we also supply either UV or laser safety goggles. For a phototherapy device to ship with a warning label to avoid exposure to your eyes, it is incomprehensible to also not supply safety eye wear. Naturally it is nearly impossible to never accidentally exposure the energy to your eyes either directly by accidental movement during treatment or indirectly from reflected surfaces during treatment. Our proximity detection technology is capable of both automatically enabling and disabling our products.

A spot focused 5mW laser module is massively more dangerous than a 20mW beam that has been designed to diverge to a wide beam over a short area. For example at say 10inchs, a 5mW beam is still a 5mW beam that is still tiny.  A 20mW diverged laser at 10inches would be significantly less energy, but spread over a larger surface area.

12. What about high powered lasers causing hair loss and head aches?

This is simply false and untrue and most likely propaganda spread by US based manufacturers limited by largely unrelated US laws limiting their laser output to < 5mW.  There is no magic formula saying 5mW is ideal for hair regrowth; or any form of laser therapy for that matter. Why settle on the maximum allowed by law?  Why not 1mW, 2mW etc?  Phototherapy is all about measured doses of energy to a particular area. With focused 5mW laser modules, it simply takes significantly more time to deliver anywhere near the energy saturation of 20mW+ laser modules. Clearly these manufacturers are building to the maximum permissible to them. We believe, and the medical evidence suggests, this is simply not enough.  Medical evidence suggests the required amount of power required for hair loss treatment. Clinics and manufacturers in Asia, Australia and Europe have been using stronger lasers for DECADES to treat hair loss and migraines - far from causing hair loss or headaches! If you are in the least bit concerned, we offer another unique and innovative feature - variable laser power output.  Simply turning on or off 5mW lasers is not changing the power output of a device, but decreasing the treatment surface area.  No matter how many 5mW lasers you have, the total power is only ever 5mW - just over a different exposure area. Dermaray Laser is the only hand held laser comb capable of running each individual laser at a percentage of the  total output so from 1-100% or 1~20mW.  So you can start your chosen treatment slowly and gradually increase the power as you feel comfortable, or according to pre-programmed exposure programs. Again, we noticed comments such as this are largely anonymous forum posts that seem to originate from other manufacturers. We are unaware of a single complaint of this nature from a legitimate Dermaray user. Remember European clinical laser system are often 20mW, 50mW, 80mW or even more! Some systems have combined outputs of 5,000mW or even more.

13. I have an idea how to improve your product, want to hear it?

YES! If anybody can suggest a new feature or way to further improve our Dermaray phototherapy devices we would love to hear from you.

14. How do I know Dermaray will work for me?

There is no way to know any treatment will work for you. Most Dermaray owners have either trialled similar treatment at a clinic or used similar equipment before, and simply want the very best home treatment possible. However, doing this is often expensive and some owners are willing to "give it a go" and effectively avoid the expense of an expensive salon program. Alternatively we suggest trialling clinical laser therapy first and establishing if you are confident investing in a premium home treatment device.

15. What about the cost, I have seen cheaper laser combs.

Just like cars and computers, there is a very big difference in quality, performance, economy and cost of a LLLT laser device. On a dollar : power ratio Dermaray actually works out far cheaper.  Some laser combs only contain a single low powered laser module (sometimes less than half a milliwatt) and many contain low powered and ineffective LEDs not actual laser modules at all.  Some even claim to have 16~20 LEDs but actually only contain 2 and a series of plastic mirrors. As stated, with Dermaray you receive exactly what we describe and our technical specifications are far in excess of all other laser devices. Some laser combs are made by hand in backyard workshops. These systems often come with no warranty or only a short warranty. Why? Because unmanaged laser modules simply will not go thee distance, often failing within 6 months.

16. How strong does a laser need to be?

Low Level Laser Therapy has many different applications, and it has been proven safe between 1-500mW at a range of wavelengths. Devices based on 1~5mW lasers are typically video game accessories, laser pointers and laser pens, power tools, laser levels, police laser guns, gun sights and other entry level laser combs and laser brushes etc. To deliver the required amount of energy quickly and efficiently over a large area such as the scalp, simple mathematics and physics dictate stronger lasers are required such as 20mW, 50mW and 80mW or even stronger lasers.  Prices on quality laser modules grow incrementally. There is no international requirement to limit LLLT laser devices to <5mW other than cost savings. Low powered lasers, even in large quantities, are still low powered lasers.

17. Hey, I didn't get a printed manual with my delivery

Dermaray has adopted a strong environmental policy. Rather than providing masses of printed material that is often used only once, the latest user guides are always available from our web page. User guide's can be downloaded from;

• Download the Dermaray UV operating guide
• Download Dermaray Laser operating guide
• Dermaray Canopy 10 & 24 User Guide