Electrolysis for children ?

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#1

Hi there, Im new here but have been reading on the site for a while.

I have two beautiful daughters - nearly 7 and 4 years. Unfortunately they appear to have developed hypertrichosis at age 4. Nothing like this in the family. Both been tested for all sorts of things and the end result is that they have extra sensitive hair follicles or something like that :frowning: I feel so sad for them.

7 year old - arms, full legs, bit on upper back, lots of fine long vellus hairs on face not too obvious except for the upper lip and her nose tip.

4 year old - arms, legs, back, shoulders, upper cheeks (eye brows sort of continue down)

Their faces worry me the most, especially my 7 year old. The vellus hairs on her nose tip are getting longer and longer. They are obvious to me especially on her side profile. The odd one is getting darker and she also seems to have a lot of nose hair inside her nose.

What to do when the time comes that its really a problem for her? Every day I am waiting for her to tell me that someone at school has noticed and teased her. No one seems to do electrolysis on children. I absolutely would not allow laser on her face at all after reading how it can react with vellus hairs. But surely with a numbing cream it could be attempted in small doses on a child? I dont want to start rubbing creams and lotions and potions on her face until she is a ā€œsuitable ageā€ to do something more permanent. I just wonder why something permanent couldnt be started now and kept going through puberty to hopefully at least partially ease the problem. I have just started doing diathermy on my upper lip (which has hardly any hair there) to see how it feels and it honestly doesnt seem too bad.

Can anyone advise if there is a medical reason why children this age couldnt be helped if the situation required it? Does it make more hair grow for them later down the track or something? Is it just the pain factor? Im just not sure why if the child was happy to try it that it wouldnt be allowed?

Sorry if I am waffling on but I feel a bit desperate about the situation. Just feeling like no one will help them if it all gets out of hand ! Also hope this post is in the right place and acceptable !

#2

ā€œUnfortunately they appear to have developed hypertrichosis at age 4.ā€

I suppose Iā€™d want to ask who made the diagnosis? Iā€™m wondering if youā€™re expressing your opinion, or an actual medical diagnosis?

At this point you should only be dealing with medical doctors who specialize in these areas. Your kids are 4 and 7? Absolutely NO laser or electrolysis!

Iā€™m thinking about that mom who was giving her 10-year-old ā€œBotoxā€ injections so she would never have to worry about wrinkles. There is a time for electrolysis, but not at 4 and 7!

#3

Paediatric Endocronolgists, Doctor and Dermatologist have made the diagnosis not me. Yes, I realise it seems bad and honestly if I didnt have children like this and heard of another woman even suggesting this out loud I would have thought she was a monster. You really have to see my girls to realise the extent of it. The eldest one is already teased on a daily basis in summer for her legs and arms and Im just terrified the facial hair is going to take off and cause even more trouble for her.

Botox on a child and hair removal are two totally different things.

My query was, if the child was at a point that they wanted to try a permanent solution, was it possible.

#4

No! Please re-read Michael Bonoā€™s post. I agree 100%.

#5

And please let it be noted that never ever was I referring to my 4 year old getting electrolysis! I only meant that she has excess hair as well. I was only wondering if it was possible for pre-teens to have this done and if so what age? My daughters will have to be happy with maybe bleaching if things are a problem for them in years to come prior to permanent treatment as I do not like the idea of them shaving / waxing / creaming the delicate skin on their faces. I saw on Lucy Peters website that she had men / women / children listed as her clients which was what prompted my question.
Thanks

#6

Iā€™m sure you can find electrologists who treat children.

The problem will be finding one who is among THE BEST in the field, because a childā€™s skin deserves nothing less.

Depending on where you live this may or may not require extensive and expensive travel.

PS. When youā€™re logged in there is a search field on the right hand side, in case you want to research a certain practitioner for example.

#7

Thank you. I definitely wouldnt go near just anyone for this problem. We are in New Zealand and it seems every spa around is putting themselves out there as experts in electrolysis, laser and ipl which I know wouldnt be the case.

I havent discussed this with their dermatologist but when the time comes in the future Im hoping he will be able to point us in the right direction. I was thinking that it was possibly ok to treat girls aged 10 -12 if a doctor thought it was appropriate and only if it was really affecting my daughterā€™s self esteem and she was mature enough to handle it.

I do appreciate any advice. Most posts are about girls having these issues at puberty and the permanent options are then available to them. I just really dont know what to do for my girls and I would hate to somehow make the problem worse! My 7 year old is a very shy sensitive girl and I hate the thought that she will be affected emotionally by this problem even though we play it down and tell her its only cosmetic and easily fixed when shes bigger.

#8

I am sure like most professions if you keep looking you will find someone who will do the ā€˜jobā€™ for you. However the advice is not to treat children till they are teenagers and ready to make their on decisions.
In the meantime try not to let it become an issue. Coming from Scotland a lot of Celtic children develop dense vellus hair on their faces from a young age, especially if they have red hair. Mediterranean children can develop fairly strong hair on leg and back from a very young age. My beautiful Scottish red headed friend married a handsome Portuguese man, they have 3 most extraordinary beautiful girls all have had noticeable body hair and facial hair from a young age. The eldest is now 11 so far it not too concerned about. The day may come when it does become very upsetting for her until then there will be no need for any treatment.
I know you are worried about the teasing at school, and your intentions are good, but leave well alone for the time being.

#9

Oh, Aorearoa!

Been there several times teaching electrolysis and know quite a few of the folks. Please contact Steve Flaunty in Wellington. He can point you in the right direction (physicians and electrologists). If you canā€™t fine him, send me a PM.

Cheers!

(I did ā€œeverythingā€ in NZL, except the Waitomo Caves ā€¦ going 100 meters straight down on a ROPE! Some of the guys in NZL are all adrenaline and testosterone ā€¦ not me! Iā€™m scared!)

#10

Michael, do you still do educational trips? I may be mistaken but I seem to remember you being over in the Uk when I was still in college about 20 years ago. Would be fantastic if you ever decide make a trip over again I know a number of electrologists who would be interested in hearing from you.

Mairi

#11

My God ā€¦ if I had any chance in the world I would move to New Zealand! Iā€™m too damned old to be allowed in ā€¦ but your country. (If I ever did move there, I would then try to keep everybody OUT!)

Yes, I was in the UK too, but the people in NZL were the most open of everyone. A few are doing local anesthetic, which will be necessary at ā€œthe right time only.ā€ I spoke to your medical board and they are probably still ā€œon lineā€ for the procedure; yes, for independent electrologists.

I hope Steve is a better sailor. We got out in 15-foot swells and after a few beers almost crashed into the cliffs. Nicely, I donā€™t ā€œdo beerā€ and we were able to drop the spinnaker and make it back in. What a day!

#12

Children rarely have the motivation or maturity level to see electrolysis through to completion. They become bored and irritated, eventually railing against the parents for pushing them into something of which they have no interest. It becomes a waste of time, money and effort that generally ends in disappointment and at times erroneous statements are made to the effect that ā€œelectrolysis does not work.ā€ Everyone loses!

#13

Hairadicator ā€¦ yes, agree 100%

I only had two kids where it worked well. One was a 7-year-old with a tele on her nose: one zap and it was gone (she was VERY motivated). The other was a kid born with no ear. I cleared the area where the ear was going and the surgeon did several procedures to create an ear (non-functioning, but it looked much better). Both kids were under direct on-site medical supervision of the plastic surgeon.

#14

Thanks for all the further comments.

The only area which will cause the most concern and my daughter would probably want dealt with in the next wee while would be her nose tip. I cant imagine it would take much to sort out. If it starts to grow wildly in the area over the next few years, would it make matters worse down the track if we were to use hair removal cream there? Not that I want too, as Im terrified about making look so much worse with temporary measures. Im just thinking it would be horribly stubbly and obvious when it was growing back.
Thanks

#15

Quite frankly I would not worry about hair growth in children this young. Worry over ā€œwhat ifsā€ and being ā€œterrifiedā€ has the potential to do more damage to you than unwanted hair problems in your children. For the record, any type of surface hair removal such as creams, clipping, shaving etc has NO effect on hair growth, although creams can be harsh on a childā€™s skin. If other children are making fun of them, itā€™s a bully issue and should be dealt with accordingly.

#16

Iā€™m neither a mom nor an electrologist. Just genuinely curious because I might have hairy children one day and I want to be prepared. Personally, I didnā€™t start worrying about my excess hair until I was 19-20 years old but I think that was because I was too preoccupied by my horrendous acne.

I very strongly think that my chest and upper arms would not have been the active pimple warzone that they were(and still are, though to a lesser extent now in addition to 10 years of scarring) had I had electrolysis in these areas before I started getting oily-which began at age 13-14ish after puberty. I assume no hair = no folliculitis? Folliculitis + acne has been a major problem for me in those areas. Iā€™m also sure that electrolysis or no electrolysis, my back and face would have affected equally. I feel like the nature of lesions on chest+arms vs. face+back was/is different for me. And that hair removal on chest/arms early on would have made a world of difference in current skin quality and self esteem.

Other than pain and lack of full consent, what problems could early electrolysis treatment have for children?

#17

And I mean children age 11ish and upward

#18

I join the opinion of my colleagues here. Subject a child to the Electrolysis can be traumatic. However, I can understand the concern of this mother, as I understood at the time the reasons for the mother of Christine, a 6 year old girl who was treated of her upper lip. All of us, including Lola, my doctor thought that Cristina would rise from the table as she saw the needle. All except her mother, because nobody in the world knows her daughter better than a mother. Cristina is an unusually mature child, who always watched with curiously as a nurse drew some blood for routine analysis.

With only 6 years Cristina was already suffering the cruelty of children in school. We agreed to try to Cristina with the condition that the slightest gesture of rejection, we would stop treatment.
The treatment was carried out by applying some topical anesthesia, and subsequent application of local anesthesia. The child absolutely did not suffer any pain or discomfort.

Iā€™ve never seen anything like it. Not only completed all sessions (about 6 sessions of 30 minutes) but Cristina enjoyed it. While I worked, her mother read a funny book pages.
One day while they waited for me to finish with the previous client, Cristina drew a picture that later gave me. For some time hung on the wall to give an example to some of my clients over 30. Moral: There is no minimum or maximum age for Electrolysis, you just need a great motivator and a mother as the mother of Cristina.

cristina.jpg471Ɨ512

#19

Thank you everyone.

I just wondered ā€¦ if there half a chance the longish vellus hairs on her face (particularly nose) will thin out / grow shorter naturally as she ages? Anyone seen this happen before? Or are they more likely to darken and thicken?

Probably like asking how long is a piece of string ā€¦

#20

It is impossible to know this early. The entire situation could change at puberty ā€¦ which way it will go is anyoneā€™s guess.