Greater Reaction over time

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

I am having a problem that is stumping both my electrologist and I. Over time I seem to be having a worse reaction, specifically on the front of my chin just below the lower lip. It starts as pusstuals.

A little needed background about myself. I am transgender. Male to Female. I have had electrolysis done on my face weekly (different areas alternating) since July. The amount of hairs remaining on my chin is sparse now and fairly thin hairs.

The blend method is used. After the session my chin is slightly red for a couple of hours, and then it fades, but later that evening I start to have pusstuals. The next morning I have many pusstuals, and my skin is bumpy. This last time I had over thirty on my chin.

Talking with my electrologist about it, she is at a loss as to how to treat the area differently. She says the setting are lower and lower over time, and that she sets it up so that the hair release in 1-2 seconds.

Eventually the area settles down over a few days.

Does anyone have any ideas that either my electrologist can do or I can do differently post case?

On other parts of my face, I don’t have this reaction.

#2

ok I have a couple thoughts.

The first, honestly is there any possibility of contamination when working in this area or right after. I’m wondering if you are using anything for aftercare. Where an area is prone to reaction like this It is probably a good idea to use just water on the area during the 48 or so hours after treatment.

This is one of the most painful places I have had electrolysis done. Those tiny little hairs are shallow and there is muscle tissue right there. Insertions can be really difficult, and generally should be very shallow. That’s one reason I dont do sub 2 second blend there and slow the treatment time per hair down to about 6-8 seconds. Just my opinion, but I think the tissues are too shallow to use the higher thermolysis amount needed to accomplish a two second treatment time. This may help.

Seana

#3

I find that pustules typically result from one of two things…

overtreatment (particularly if an area is getting a lot of work at high settings semi-frequently)

or, as Seana pointed out, contamination. You’ll want to refrain from touching the area for 24 hours after your treatment and if you must touch it, make sure you wash your hands thoroughly first. You may find that you are absentmindedly touching your skin (a LOT of people do) and don’t even realize it. Also, gravity is likely to pull your sweat down to the chin area, which means it’s going to pick up any other contaminants on your face and bring them for the ride. Another mistake is putting makeup on after treatment (and if you want to do so, use a post-epilation cream that will seal off the follicles first).

If your electrologist isn’t doing cataphoresis after your treatment, it would almost certainly help by closing the follicles and re-acidifying the skin to protect it. Cold aloe or witch hazel as the next step and I’d probably send you out the door with an ice pack as well, just to help close up the pores even more.

Given that you’re doing blend, you may also be having a reaction to the heat from the thermolysis and I would consider and insulated probe as well.

#4

Thanks for the replies.

For post care I first do ice and then I am doing a saline solution compress. Next time I will try nothing, or just water.

I do go for a long walk in the early evening on that day, so sweat contamination may be an issue. Is there anyway to prevent this? Would using a post-epilation cream before I go on a walk be a good idea?

My electrologist is doing cataphoresis after treatment.

I will ask about an insulated probe. We are not currently using one, but I know places like E3000 use it.

The chin is one of the easiest places for me in terms of pain. I had jaw surgery many years ago, and it has left that area slightly nerve damaged. The upper lip near the nose, that area is tough!

#5

There’s not really any way that I can think of to prevent the sweat contamination before it happens, though the post epilation cream or some aloe/witch hazel gel may help to seal it some… after your walk, simply clean the face (soap and water is generally good enough at this point) and then pat it dry with a clean towel (don’t want to pick up any contaminants from something like a hand towel you may use multiple times before laundering).

#6

Tea tree oil dissolves pus and prevents pustule formation. I use tea tree oil, sparenly, and then gently massage in cold aloe vera gel right over the tea tree oil. I keep the purest aloe possible in the refrigerator. Do this right after your session and then do this routine for three nights at homeand see how it works for you? During the day, keep your face clean. You can use witch hazel and aloe throughout the day, for three days, but only use the tea tree oil at bedtime.

#7

Tea tree oil dissolves puss, I did not know that. I will give it a try. I do have access to nearly unlimited supply of fresh aloe. I have several large plants in the backyard. It’s nasty bitter if it ever touches your tongue.

Thanks EmancipatedElect. Using a never used towel for the first day or so, is a great idea after each time I wash my face.

I will give these a try next Saturday, but we won’t be working on my chin until the Saturday after that. I will reply to this to let everyone know how it goes.

#8

The plant is sticky. Use it if you can, but purchasing 99% aloe vera gel is easier to use.

#9

I have more to report. This Saturday I had the upper lip, lower lip (but not the chin), and the bottom of my neck treated.

Before I had the treatment the only thing my electrologist wanted to change was to not clear the upper and lower lip, which we were clearing before. So we did that, and the upper lip had a similar reaction to the chin the week before. It was only about 7 pusstuals this time, but some of them were very large. This was a change in how things normally reacted. Normally we would clear the upper lip and the next day there will be some redness and a little swelling, and then 3 to four 4 days later I would get some acne. Different from pusstuals.

It has been an emotional experience as well, that has affected my relationship with my electrologist, because the only thing she is willing to try is to treat less, but that seems to make things worse. I am starting the search for someone new now. Someone that is willing to take on the challenge are open to trying different techniques. I live in San Francisco, and I open to suggestions.

I am using Vera Weiler now.

This time for after care I was super careful about keeping things clean. Tea tree oil does help and I used that the night of the treatment. I did do a warm compress the next day to open up the pusstuals, then I treated it with witch-hazel. That seemed to help a lot, the pusstuals did not return and things seem to be healing quickly now.

#10

If you have to look for a new electrologist, then San Francisco is a great place to be from all accounts. I’d hazard a guess there are one or two people here who could give you top notch referrals.

#11

I would love to hear recommendations. I met with Dimitra and Jeanine from Dimitra’s in San Francisco today. I wanted someone else to look at my skin, which is 3 days post treatment today. I had photos with me from the day after my last two treatments as well. They were both shocked at how bad my skin was. It was one of the worst cases they have ever seem. But they said they get a fair amount of people coming in that have had bad reactions from blend. They have a modern machine (Apilus Platinum Pure), and they do thermolysis. They seem confident they can help me out, but they understandably want my skin to heal first. The big plus with this place is very knowledgeable about skin care in general. They recommend two products to get my skin back to health, which I am trying out.

But I am open to hear any other suggestions. I did try a search here, but I did not come up with anything recent.

#12

Hi Jessica,

From experience, I have noticed the clients that get the side effect of pustules are usually the clients with more of the normal to oily skin types. My clients with dryer skin types typically don’t get the frequent pustules. Another thing I do for my acne prone clients is after I cataphorese their skin, I apply a thin layer of 2.5 percent benzoyl peroxide. I specifically use the Proactive Repairing cream on the areas I zapped. This has personally worked for me, since I also tend to break out after electrolysis and have used it as a after care on my sensitive skin.
The previous suggestions of tea tree are great too.