Should an electrologist be adjusting the current depending on the coarseness of the individual hair? I suspect you are supposed to, however, my electrologist (whom I just decided to stop seeing) never did this. I now have pitting and depressed scars on my chin. She told me these would go away. I really wanted to believe her but after 6 months, the scars are still there. Also, what could she have been doing where she would zap the same hairs over and over with no result, not even slight thinning. I have much less hair than when I started but I still have a ways to go. To be fair, I plucked for over 10 years and I’m sure this has contributed to the problem. I just feel so ugly right now.
Yes. The electrologist should be adjusting the epilator settings depending on the coarseness of the hair.
I don’t understand the part where you say: “Also, what could she have been doing where she would zap the same hairs over and over with no result, not even slight thinning. I have much less hair than when I started but I still have a ways to go.”
If you have less hair, what do you mean “not even slight thinning.” Are you talking about the diameter of the hair? Usually, if you are seeing less hair, then the remaining hairs are smaller in diameter. (Most of us go for the largest, most noticeable hairs first.)
Keep in mind, skin with large diameter hair is usually oily skin and that skin is not as smooth as hairless dry skin. Tweezing/plucking does contribute to skin injuries…
It sounds like you are struggling with your feelings about the treatments…whether they were they good or were they bad…and did they harm you or help you.
A lot of the hair is gone (hopefully permanently). At this point, she keeps zapping the remaining hairs but they keep coming back with the same thickness. I know some of these have been treated already because there is pitting in the area. When I lived in another state and saw a different electrologist, I did not have any problems. I have an appointment with a different electrologist so I will get her opinion. I’m wondering if I should just stop treatments altogether for awhile.
How long have you been working on this, and how many full clearances have you achieved?
Without Before, and Progress Pictures, it is hard for the client to judge how much reduction has occurred. Typically, one would need 9 to 18 months to complete an area, and it would take about 3 months for one to have a reduction that might be noticeable to the untrained eye. Statistically speaking, one needs to lose 50% of the hair in an area before the average person notices that you have lost anything at all.
I probably didn’t make myself clear. My main concern is the pitted and depressed scarring. Plus, after each treatment, I have several days of redness. I’ll try to take a picture but all I have is my camera phone.
How long is several? And what remains red? The whole area of treatment or the narrow surrounding of each treted follicle?
Usually even an initially strong reaction should improve within hours, at maximum a few days (the latter should already be a strong indication for use to improve our treatment in order to minimize reaction). Please let me stress this because the electrologist i visited first told me healing might take up to 6-8 weeks, which caused me to wait too long to visit a physician.
Back to the scarring: scars may improve with time. If they do not, this is not acceptable and (in my position as a customer) a reason to look for someone doing her job better.
BTW: old scarring may be improved by microneedling or fractional laser.
Our experiences have been quite similar. You should take a look at my thread here:
http://www.hairtell.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/74169/1.html [/quote]
I saw your thread. My skin looks like that but worse. I can’t even cover it up with makeup.
Just a quick update. I had a consultation with a dermatologist this week. He said he has never seen anything like the scarring I have. He then proceeded to consult with an electrologist that works at the clinic. She said two things may have caused this. First, this can occur when using too high of a current on oily skin (which I have). Second, the technician may not have gone in far enough with the filament (I believe this also occurred as there a a few hairs that were being treated EVERY SINGLE WEEK).
Anyhow, as far as treating the scarring, we are not going to do anything until I am finished with the hair removal process. I had also asked for a prescription for Retin-A for other skin issues and he thinks it will help with the scarring. I have my doubts. In addition, I can’t use it on my chin until I’m finished with the laser treatments.
You really don’t need to bother with Retin A topicals.
Just get 1,000 mg vitamin E, twice a day, 2,000 mg vitamin C, throughout the day, 100 mg zinc twice a day, and 25,000 IU vitamin A 4 times a day. You will rebuild the skin from the inside out.
As for your practitioner, perhaps she/he should get a little less timid about the insertions, and go deep! (or stop trying to do insertions with an auto-sensor set to go off too early for the speed of her insertions. It needs time for you to get to the bottom of the follicle).
Thanks. I will try the supplements. I really just want this nightmare to be over!