Advice for hair removal for GCS

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Hello all, my name is Nicky. I’m currently in the process of looking for a surgeon but in the meantime I figure I probably have a good 2-3 years to work on full clearance hair removal down there in preparation for gender confirmation surgery.

I have a few questions, I’ve already posted some before but this one is getting a bit more into detail so I wanted to do it in the proper area of the forum.
I am very pale with dark, coarse hair (Italian genes lol) and thus, a great candidate for laser hair removal. I’ve done a lot of laser on my face and it has reduced and even appeared to cause some hairs to be permanently removed (It’s splotchy of course) and am in the process of cleaning what’s left on my face with electrolysis.

  1. So my first question here is: should I do that on my genitals/is it safe to do so? I’ve done 1 round of laser on full Brazilian including the entirety of the shaft, scrotal tissues and perineum with no adverse effects or skin burning so I’m assuming it’s okay? Just wondering if I should continue on with laser like this to get as much clearance as possible for a year or a year and a half (That’s about what it took with laser on my face before it was doing nothing) and then switch to electrolysis to clean it all up.

  2. My other question is in regards to the modality of electrolysis for genital hair removal… The clinic I go to offers galvanic blend and thermolysis. I’ve tried galvanic blend a little bit and it’s very painful… Thermolysis seems way more tolerable but I’m afraid of whether or not the hairs will grow back after years? Is thermolysis completely permanent when it is performed correctly? Considering that I have plenty of time between now and a potential surgery date… Would it hurt to go with thermolysis and do faster clearances of larger areas down there even if it means having to go back and repeat said sessions multiple times?

  3. And to piggyback off of that last question, which is more damaging to the skin, thermolysis or galvanic blend? Because another thing I’m a little afraid of is any potential damage to the skin being used for surgery. I want to be as careful as possible during this entire process because I don’t wanna mess up my chances to get GCS. My electrologist said thermolysis is safer but I’m not sure I just want some second opinions!

Sorry for the wall of text and lots of questions, I just can’t find answers to a lot of these answers anywhere and I figured HairTell is the best place to go for this. Thanks so much in advance you guys!! happy to be here

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I can only comment on the modality part from personal experience. Yes if thermolysis is done correctly the hairs will be killed permanently forever. What I can say is that I had thermolysis done by professionals on genital area and the kill rate was frustratingly low. I spent a lot of money and saw slow changes. The moment I switched to galvanic, the kill rate was dramatically improved. The practitioners who worked with thermolysis would tell me that the area in general is very difficult to work with so galvanic or blend has higher success. Now if your practitioner has a lot of experience doing genital work with thermolysis and they’re confident they can produce results in that time frame then yes go ahead and do thermolysis.

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I see. Thanks for the insight. Between blend and thermolysis, is one more damaging to the skin than the other? Or does it not matter much as long as it is being performed by a skilled electrologist who knows what they are doing? Luckily I have access to some very skilled electrologists at my clinic so I feel safe in going either route with them but I was just wondering if one modality was more prone to damaging the skin than the other. Thanks

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If any modality is done correctly then there will never be any skin damage. Margin for error with blend is easier to dujust because currents release slower giving the practitioner more time to observe and adjust. Thermolysis requires higher skill and experience to perform correctly. Do you use numbing creams for your treatments? I couldn’t be treated with thermolysis or blend without numbing creams.

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I am going to. I’ve used numbing for face but I can tolerate thermolysis on the face no problem so I haven’t been using it.

I did 2 sessions of blend on my pubic area with no numbing and it was like hell lol so definitely using numbing of some kind down there moving forward. What forms of numbing would be safe to use? Do I need to worry about it absorbing into the delicate skin areas like the shaft, scrotum or perineum or not really?

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I used EMLA cream covered with cling wrap. Let it absorb for at least 20 minutes before starting the session. I have additional information here:
https://www.transgendermap.com/guidance/medical/hair-removal/electrolysis/body-genitals/

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Also here:

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Thank you so much Andrea!!