acne following treatment?

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hi,

After almost ten months of treatment, I’m close to full clearance on my upper lip, chin, and various other parts of my face. I’m now looking to have work done on my chest, bikini line, arms, and (maybe) legs.

So far so good with skin condition (no scarring, no hyperpigmentation). I do have one question–since I started my treatments in January, I’ve noticed a flare-up in acne. I feel like a teenager again! And the spots seem to surface in areas that have been treated. I’m not talking about bumps or pustules in the days following the treatment, I’m talking about regular pimples that surface weeks later, after the area seems to have fully healed. They seem to originate deep below the skin, farther down than run-of-the-mill pimples.

Does anyone have an idea as to why this is, or whether it’s normal reaction? Any thoughts would be appreciated. I’ve tried a variety of acne products, but I’m still breaking out.

thanks–

#2

Were you prone to acne as a teenager…?

It may be that your body is over healing itself, and that would depend on your after care routine…

Also, what is your after-care routine… it may be working against you… the clue is that it is in the areas treated, so perhaps something you are applying is causing the problems…

more details will let us give you a better diagnosis…

Regards,

David

#3

After a follicle is treated, the healing mechanisms of the body go straight forward, immediately, into healing the area that was tramatized. It’s a fascinating set of events with many processes happening at once. If there was any debris left behind, any part of the hair or it’s sheath, inflammation will be a part of the process used to rid the wound of this foreign invader, thus an acne-like pimple.

If this happens two weeks later and it feels like it originates deep down under, I can offer a possible explanation. On some deep treated follicles, material debri was not able to be totally removed at the time of treatment. Your body is doing what nature intended it to do: cells are surrounding and destroying the invader. What you feel and see as a result is a pimple.

Usually all this happens sooner rather than weeks after a treatment. The other explantion may be that it is mere coincidence that you are having acne outbreaks in the same area of treatment a couple weeks after treatment, if you are acne prone.

David raises a good question about after care products you are using that would be most likely causing the problem weeks after the area has healed. Inflammatory skin manifestations caused by electrolysis usually show within 24-48 hours after a treatment, if they show at all.

Dee

#4

Just to add my 2 cents. Ocassionally, I have one or two acne after treatment. According to my electrologist, it simply means the area being treated is not cleaned properly… I don’t worry that too much.

#5

Hmm…thanks for the comments.

Well, I used to have moderate acne as a teenager. But I haven’t had it in years. I also never had it in areas that I have it in now–areas like the upper lip and jawline. I also find that these pimples are markedly different from the white pustules that sometimes form in the day after treatment.

In terms of my aftercare, I’ve been using either Cetaphil, Dial Soap, or Dessert Essence Tea Tree Wash for the few days following treatment. After a few days, I go back to my old skincare routine–usually either Eucerin Pore Purifying Wash or one of the half dozen Neutrogena products sitting in my cabinet. (I’ve been using their 60 second mask-scrub recently.) Since my skin is so oily, I seldom use any moisturizer.

Last time I was at the electrologist, she was commenting that she didn’t like leaving anything under the skin, but that sometimes the hair shaft (?) breaks and the bulb (?) is left behind. My suspicion is that this is what’s causing the pimples…if so, then, hopefully it will clear up once my body has had a chance to dissolve (?) these left overs.

#6

Here’s my experience with oily skin. I found that using oil freen moisturizer helps reduce the oil on my skin. Using seabreeze and soap strips the oils and makes the skin produce more oil. An acid peel mask or something like neutrogena clear pore that has salycilic acid will make the pores smaller because clogged pores pull down on the edges of the pore and make them look bigger, the mask releases the skin. I have to use an exfoliant about every other week because the moisturizing causes buildup of skin cells on the skin surface. Just want to help all the oily skinned people, give up on trying to wash away that oil, It won’t work!