I was wondering if it is safe to go in for a treatment for 6 hours of electrolysis for the facial area to get clearance. Is this recommended?
The reason I am asking is because I am going pretty far to get this done, and I want a first clearance so that I won’t need to go twice or more every week just to clear the area.
Has anyone ever done this, and if so how were your results? I’m hoping it doesn’t cause too much of an irritation.
Also I had a question unrelated to this topic but didn’t wanna make a second topic.
I was reading on past posts that insurance companies are required to pay for electrolysis if deemed medical? Is this only in the states or in Canada as well?
Also, my doctor has said that insurance wouldn’t pay for things regarded as medical, how would I prove to her that they would? I don’t have PCOS but I have hirsuteness…is this not medical? The hair is everywhere and very noticeable.
Have you had any electrolysis treatment before now.? Is your practitioner very, very competent and experienced, and what equipment will be used? Is all of the time to be spent treating one area ? Face or body? Have you had treatment with this electrologist before? Hirsutism is regarded as genetic, and not a medical condition, so I doubt very much if an insurance company will be forthcoming.
Technically, insurance DOES cover hair removal.
Practically speaking, it DOESN’T.
You are caught in a trap.
Technically, your problem IS medical, but you can’t get treatment paid by the insurance without permission from the gatekeepers. the gatekeepers get bonuses paid for denying you treatments. It is really easy to deny hair removal, after all, the gatekeepers don’t even make any money off you getting hair removal. Now denying you heart surgery… the gatekeepers would help you fight that, as they would stand to make a good penny of that procedure.
Having said that, I have had people whose insurance did pay for their treatments. I have also had people whose insurance paid for a while, and then stopped paying. Some paid via their Health Savings Account with PreTax Dollars. Others have sued the insurance company for breach of promise, and won, others have done the same thing and have lost.
To answer your first question: I have heard about plenty of people (usually trans individuals) who get a full beard cleared in a six hour session or longer (usually longer, honestly) over the course of a day or two. Sometimes they even have two techs working on them at one time.
There are factors that affect how much you’ll be able to tolerate in one marathon treatment, but enough people have done it that I say it’s a totally reasonable thing to consider.
You need to know whether you can even stand 6 hours of continuous treatment. I can go 3-4 hours with my current practitioner, who is very gentle, and I start to get really, really twitchy and angry!
Heh, I’ve noticed at the three hour mark I get very sore in my joints and if I can’t change position it becomes painful. So I’m always shifting my butt or crossing/ uncrossing my legs or fidgeting. No matter how hard they try to keep me comfortable, I just can’t be still for that length of time. 
I have had 6 hours of electrolysis in a row, with some breaks in between. Last time I had a full clearance, I did 6 hours one day, 6 hours the next and 4 the next. I was ok, but quite swollen.
bryce, I experience the same thing, after a couple hours I get twitchy (especially the feet and legs, on the side being worked on.) After finishing a session of 4-6 hours I have what I think could be called a “runner’s high.”
Hi Desperate:
It’s possible if you can find someone who is willing to work on you for 6 hours at a time and if your skin des not react adversely to so much work all at once. My skin was kind of sensitive and too much work would cause the face to swell. I found 2 hours at a time was all I could really handle physically and emotionally since it caused me a lot of nervousness at times as I anticipated being zapped in areas such as the nostril where it meets the upper lip.
Personally I would try an hour or possibly two, every week at first till you get full clearance of whatever is there, then change that to every 2 or three weeks as necessary to maintain the clearance.
You may want to try an hour first and see how that goes for you.
Just a thought.
Alicia
Hi:
Yes, they do marathon sessions at E-3000 but use an anesthetic injection to do so.
I have seen some photos of some people who looked like a swollen berry afterwards however,
or as if they’ve gone a few rounds with Mike Tyson.
Probably the best thing to do is to start outwith a shorter session and see how well you can handle it,especially if someone has never had electrolysis before and doesn’t know how it is going to feel for them, doesn’t know the electrologist, etc… If the shorter sessions don’t phase them that much, and they want a longer one then give it a try within reason, such as going from 1 or 2 hours to 3 or something along those lines.
James does longer sessions and says his customers can handle them the way he does them , so you may even want to try him.
Alicia
Thanks guys! I have done 2 hour sessions, and it doesn’t bother me, just the fact that some of you said you get ansy I do too. But the pain is bearable. I’m going in for 6 hours to get clearance on one area. I’m really determined to rid the hair on the face so I would sit for 12 hours if I had to lol…
I know insurance doesn’t pay, but I guess I was “banking” on it, it’s so unfair that us hairy folk have to pay out of our pocket for something that’s not our fault. And yes I know its cosmetic, but I wish they would try walking around with excess body hair and see how easy it is to live that way. Always wondering and freaking out if people can notice, or trying to cover it up (in the summer!). I just wanna enjoy life, and everything in it…it’s sucks so much I have this problem (minor as it is) still very bothersome to me.
Hi Desperate:
Actually they used to cover it through OHIP at one time from what I’ve been told, but now they just cover expensive government lunches and such.
If you think you can handle it and can find someone willing to do so then it’s probably worth a try.
Actually if the hair bothers you as much as it does there is nothing minor about it. I fully understand how much it sucks to have unwanted hair in a society where people can be such jerks about it.
Alicia
Nine out of ten people have unwanted hair. If insurance companies or the government, meaning we the taxpayers, had to pay for something so encompassing that doesn’t kill you, then the whole health care system would crash quickly. Reasoning minds have to focus on unfair things that happen to people like the young man with mitral valve regurgitation that needs surgery asap or the woman with newly diagnosed breast cancer.
Yes, having too much hair is unfair. Yes, society’s ridicule of too much hair is unfair, but I’d rather struggle with that kind of problem as opposed to life threatening problems with other body organs. People need to help financially when catastrophic disease and accidents befall their brother and sisters. Hair? well, those that want hair removal can put their creative hat on and figure out how to pay for this. I worked double shifts to pay for mine way back when. I didn’t expect my hardworking brothers and sisters to pick up the tab for my hair removal just as I don’t want them to expect me to contribute to their cosmetic facial fillers every 4-6 months.
Hi:
Perhaps if they didn’t spend billions killing and maiming people in ridiculous wars they could afford that and so much more?
No arguments, Alicia. But then the excess money should probably go to the schools and community programs anyway. Or perhaps a plan that only covered hair removal as part of a treatment for an actual disorder (like the hormone imbalances that cause MAJOR hair issues, not just some inconvenient peach fuzz).
Btw, you are correct Alicia. Someone I recently spoke with said that those marathon sessions leave you looking pretty swollen and bad afterward. I didn’t mean to play down the side-effects. I just think for some people it is still worth it.
Hi:
I think if a woman has excessive facial hair that causes her emotional distress then they could cover removing it. That would be easier than getting some of the so called “good people” of the world to stop picking on such individuals.
Besides the money wasted on wars they should also outlaw guns and find a way to provide better education and employment options for people who otherwise end up selling drugs and then go to prison. They waste billions housing and encarcerating them or caring for the people wounded in petty drug related gang warfare.
I saw an interesting movie the other day about Ben Carson who became a noted brain surgeon after escaping from poverty as a child.
Yeah, those so called “good people” who think they are examples of genuinely nice individuals are usually selfish, rude bullies too. The only difference is they are in denial about it, so you’ll never be able to help them change. They help out at the local PTA, they give change to a homeless guy, they think they are god’s gift to the world. But then they make fun of fat people with their buddies, or act disgusted by hair on a potential partner, or treat their pets like accessories or lawn ornaments.
People ALL suck. I’ve yet to meet one that is completely (or even predominantly) good by any stretch of the imagination. It’s why I date huge jerks now: Because at least they don’t trick you into thinking they are better than they are.
(Okay, I think that rant made me sound bitter, I’ll stay away from this topic from now on. Sorry!!)
Even without war, there will never be enough money to disperse for those that think life is unfair and someone else should pay to remedy this unfairness so they can be happier. Self-reliance and hard work brings results faster than depending on others to rescue you or demanding that others give you what you think you deserve. That’s my view of mankind and human behavior, in general, based on thousands of years of human behavior history. Put that thought under the same category as people making fun of the hairy, people making fun of the obese - people making fun of other people in general!
So the saying goes, “It is none of my business what people think of me”. It would do us all good to take care of ourselves and believe we can attain anything without wishing for others to rescue us.
Even without war, there will never be enough money to disperse for those that think life is unfair and someone else should pay to remedy this unfairness so they can be happier. Self-reliance and hard work brings results faster than depending on others to rescue you or demanding that others give you what you think you deserve. That’s my view of mankind and human behavior, in general, based on thousands of years of human behavior history. Put that thought under the same category as people making fun of the hairy, people making fun of the obese - people making fun of other people in general!
So the saying goes, “It is none of my business what people think of me”. It would do us all good to take care of ourselves and believe we can attain anything without wishing for others to rescue us. [/quote]
My wacko cousin who is also quite a homophobe used to tell me the lord will provide, but I found out that he or she only helps those who help themselves.
I’ve always paid my own way in life through hard work, personally including the tens of thousand on transition related expenses which included hair removal. The hair removal was a necessity if I ever wanted to be treated like a human being instead of an “it” as some people have described people like me. It’s one thing to be called “it” but who wants to look like “Cousin It”?
How would you like it if people described you as “it” or called you “sir” just to negate your identity?
Alicia
We learn early as little kids that this stuff happens. It’s just part of what humans do to each other. There will always be people that will make life hard and I don’t think that will ever change. My approach is to give the jerks more love or just not associate with them.