Hi! I wondered if someone could help me. I have been getting electrolysis for almost 2 years with great success until 2 1/2 weeks ago. I had some upper lip work done. My electrologist had done good work so far on my neck, chin, and lip area. I had some dark hairs come up at the corners of my lips and she did maybe 15 hairs total. It was extremely painful. I had major swelling, redness, itching and numbness. Swelling is still there after 2 weeks, but is finally subsiding. Areas still have numbness and a feeling of pinching. It is very strange. The red dots look like they are turning into holes and there is what looks like stretched scars at the corners of my mouth. I have been pretty devastated. My Electrologist had me come on day 15 for a moisture treatment… Says she doesn’t understand why I am reacting this way. Any advice on how to proceed? How can I prevent further skin damage? Is this from over treating the area? Thanks for your help.
We should have pictures to mmake a determination and time frame since treatment. Also you havent told us what kind of electrolysis you had, thermolysis or blend? Has she worked on the upper lip before/ It is normally a sensative area but I havent noticed tht ti’s any more prone to skin damage than other areas of the face.
Seana
Mtricha,
The corners of the mouth have two charactaristics:
-
The hairs are tough and living in an area where the epithelial cells are
are densely packed together. The cells that make up the lip area are so arranged to be
purposefully very rugged to support chewing, smiling
and talking activities. I have found that more energy is required to
budge those hairs, thus the reaction can be more dramatic. With that said, it
doesn’t have to be more dramatic, but sometimes it is. -
That area is exposed to saliva. It must be kept clean in the first 24 to 48
hours after eating or if you are a lip licker. That can be more challenging.
This area can become easily infected by saliva.
I don’t know if she overtreated the area or not. She is aware of it now and is interested and involved with trying reassure you and thus, help you recover.
Can we see a picture?
Thanks for your response. I have lots of pictures…just figuring out how to load it. It keeps saying the file is to big. I will figure it out and post it soon. It has been 18 days since I had the upper lip treatment. I did not have any scabbing. The area is still hugely swollen in the mornings which causes deep lines at the corners of my mouth that smooth as the day goes on. I used witch hazel, tea tree oil and aloe Vera the first few days…then just a moisturizer. The holes and stretched looking scars started developing after swelling was coming down. I see a Dermatologist on Fri to see what they say. Thanks for your help.
It is very hard to get a good pic from my phone. Hope you can see it well enough. It’s much worse than picture shows.
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Oh…and I had Thermolysis…she uses an Apilus Platinum.
Okay. Thanks for the picture.
These are not scars. Please don’t worry. That treatment did not cause the wrinkle I am seeing, in my opinion. How big were the hairs? Do you know what levels were used? Last question about levels is not that important to answer but I’m curious because you say you have been swollen for three weeks. That seems impossible to me.
Do you have a before picture, by chance?
The line in the middle is a laugh line…I am talking about the red spots that seem to be turning into holes to the left… and the stretched looking lines to the right of the smile line. My picture just doesn’t do it justice. The swelling has been for 18 days…especially in the mornings…there are swollen pouches at the corners of my mouth.My Electrologist says her machine doesn’t allow over treatment as there are settings for the different areas of the body? Not sure what level it was…but it hurt a heck of a lot more than normal. The hairs were darker and pretty coarse I guess. My Electrologist says she’s never seen swelling this long. She did the moisture treatment at 15 days and says she got the fluid moving…the swelling did improve after that…but now I am seeing skin issues. The pinching feeling and numbness is so strange…kinda feels like I had dental work. I will look and see if I can find a before pic. Thanks so much for taking the time to help…I really appreciate it.
Here is pic of the opposite side showing the pouch I am talking about.
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I’m familiar with the apilus settings for the upper lip.I’m with Dee that it is doubtful that the treatment caused this.The thermolysis settings fo th eupper lip tend to be pretty conservative.I checked on my apilus and the settings for flash or multiplex thermolysis ranged between 80-85% intensity with a timing of between .01 and .05 seconds depending on the hair thickness selected. That information is more for Dee than it does you good.
Note to Dee: I found those settings really surprising for thermolysis. I removed a skin tag with the same intensity a couple weeks go ( though not anywhere near the same timing) . It was really surprising to see high intensities used in the upper lip like that.
Lets see what the dermatologist says. But I can tell you that for 15 days after treatment you skin looks very good. I dont see anything that isnt going to heal completely
Seana
Seana, thanks for your help on this thread.
Mtricha,
Did you have electrolysis on your check area. The skin looks similar in appearance. The pores looks natural to me in both places. Honestly, I think you will be just fine. I don’t see an issue here to worry about. Give it a little more time.
I circled the “pouch” that I think you are referring to. This is not permanent. I am sure it will resolve. I know it is a big deal to you and you are suffering, but there is nothing to fret about because it will totally resolve. I think your dermatologist will not be alarmed either. Thank you for posting some pictures. It is very helpful.
I haven’t had electrolysis on my cheeks…just chin, neck and upper lip. I have a mild case of Rosacea…so my cheeks look a little red and bumpy right now. Thanks for both of your responses. Appreciate it. I have heard all the horror stories of Electrolysis of the upper lip and being my symptoms are so abnormal…I was concerned. Thanks again!
Seana, I have used 99% intensity before on an upper lip when I make my own recipes. I don’t always stay close to the pre sets. With the Platinum, there are a million and one ways to perform thermolysis and blend. Unlimited, I would say, describes what we can do with that unit. The higher the intensity the lower the timing.
You are very welcome. With all the horrible descriptions about electrolysis in the media, laser sites and doctor research papers, no wonder you are concerned. I subscribe to a Polycysitc Ovary Syndrome publication called Medifocus where the information was just updated in September 2013. They must have overlooked the electrolysis section. Here is what they say about electrolysis:
" Electrolysis - application of electric current to the base of the hair follicle with a fine needle. Electrolysis is highly effective because it permanently removes hair by destroying the follicles through a caustic chemical reaction. Electrolysis is expensive, tedious, and is effective for only small portions of skin. The efficacy of electrolysis for permanent hair loss ranges between 15-50%. It is very important to use the services of a reputable, experienced operator. Electrolysis may cause hyperpigmentation and/or scarring."
This is why we have such a difficult time educating the consumer. The consumer is wrongly “guided” by this erroneous information from the medical profession and Hairtell exists to fight this nonsense, but it doesn’t stop here. Dr. Oz is the worst. The kindest thing he does is ignore that electrolysis is even an option.
If you would, will you come back to this thread in a couple months and let us know how things resolve? It would be a nice random act of kindness for all those that come after you with the same worries.
I definitely will! My Electrolysis experience has been great except this one time. I was a 15 year plucker and caused my hair issues to become worse. I tried 6 laser appointments and it didn’t work. Electrolysis works! I have just random hairs now. It’s great to not be a slave to tweezers! 
Thanks for your enthusiasm. Can you tell your dermatologist about what electrolysis has done for you. For a lot of her or his patients, electrolysis is the only hope on earth they have to help resolve their hair problem.
Dee Dee has already discussed the peculiarities of upper lip tissue and, as always, been helpful and über-patient on this matter. (Saint Dee Dee?") “Ditto” to all she has stated. I’ll add a couple more general comments here for prospective “upper lip” folks, et.al.
Any area of the body where the skin is “thin” (I mean not much dermis and fat) your post-treatment swelling is going to be more visible. “Swelling” is 100% normal following tissue injury, and will generally be equivalent on all body parts. However, where tissue is thick, say, on your back or your butt, you don’t notice swelling. On thin areas, you get the same amount of swelling, but there is no place for it to go … so it “sticks OUT!” The upper lip, essentially a flap of skin, is very noticeable for this reason.
Your “red dots” are completely normal (called “angiogenesis”: you can look it up yourself). That these spots look like depressions is ONLY because the surrounding skin is swollen, and the spot is less swollen (and constricted my several healing factors). These look like a “micro-doughnut.” Hey, a new term! (May I have some coffee with my micro-doughnut, please?)
That “vertical ‘scar’,” you explain is nothing more than fluid in your own labial “crease” in your face. If you could see a cross-section of this formation, you would see that the “wrinkle” is a fold of collagen and a nice place for some excess fluid to rest.
I could go on-and-on, but my advice is to “give this a rest.” Nothing is wrong with you at all. NOTHING! Go get a pizza and enjoy the day! (Maybe a beer would be appropriate too. It’s said to “help the healing!” It always works for me! Maybe two beers? Yeah, TWO! (I had two beers just reading your post! tee hee)
Oh wow, Dee Dee …
I read that crapola, especially, “Electrolysis is expensive, tedious, and is effective for only small portions of skin.”
I’m now trying to get my toupee off the ceiling! (Where are these idiots living? North Korea?)
LOL! That toupee of yours really is an active little guy.
I could list hundreds of descriptions like this from all kinds of sources. The one I mentioned from PCOS Medifocus was recently updated. I had written to them a long time ago when I had more energy to fight this stuff, but of course, nothing has changed. So, for my part, I just keep bringing up these erroneous failures here on Hairtell. If clients would educate their dermatologists and family doctors about their successes and stop running to them because of one dot here and one large pore there, we might make some headway. No offense to you Mtricha, but I think you now have a better understanding of what has happened to you, whereas you did not before this thread picked up steam.
Thanks again guys. I have had work on my upper lip many times in the past year. I have never had a reaction like this ever…not sure why this time was different. I am trusting that this will all resolve soon.