TLDR: This was from my first session. I know some scabbing is normal, but this is larger than I expected, and i want to figure out what may have gone wrong, if anything.
I hate to add yet another “Is this normal?” post, but I spent so much time searching and had a hard time finding pictures very comparable to mine (they all seem to be either smaller scabs, or very clearly much worse). The first 3 pictures are 2.5 days post-treatment, and the last one is 4 days post-treatment.
I had my first session (about 45 minutes, and the machine said she got 246 hairs) on Monday 4/22, and after seeing how my skin has reacted so far, I want to get some opinions before going back. The areas I had treated were my upper lip, chin, and a little bit on my cheeks. My upper lip has healed a bit since the first picture (2.5 days post-treatment), with the exception of the vertical scar in the second picture, which I expect will be hyperpigmented for a while. My main concern is my chin.
I know some “pinpoint” scabbing is very common and normal, but these are definitely larger than what I would categorize as pinpoint size. My other thought was that many people with more severe cases than myself get electrolysis done weekly, if not more, and I can’t imagine their skin looks like this for 1-2 years, and in larger amounts.
If this seems to be out of the norm, what appears to be the issue with how this was performed? I’m wondering what, if anything, I should say if I go back to the same electrologist, or even a new one.
Side note: I also found her method of pulling out the hair to be a little odd. From what I’ve seen in videos, it seems like they usually zap one follicle, or just a few, then pull the hair out before moving on to the next. She would go from follicle to follicle for probably 5-10 minutes, then just pluck all over the area, seemingly just seeing what happens to slide out. I felt like this resulted in a little tugging as well (not painful, but tweezing my chin generally isn’t painful for me anyway), making me wonder if some hairs got missed because she plucked them.
I’ll get ahead of some of the questions I see asked a lot:
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I’m not sure which method was used. I do know I had to hold a ground during the session, and she uses insulated probes.
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For aftercare, I have been wiping with witch hazel a couple times a day and applying a healthy amount of Vaseline after. I also iced my skin for a bit when I got home, which was about 20 minutes after the appointment. I have not been picking at the scars, popping whiteheads, or using any harsh cleansers.
Sorry for the long post, but i wanted to provide as many details as possible! Thank you in advance!
