Laser Hair Removal BEFORE Electrolysis? (MTF/Hair removal before surgery questions)

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

Hi all, I am very pale and have dark, coarse hair and I am male to female transitioning for reference.

I’ve been getting laser hair removal on my face for a little over a year now but switched to thermolysis on the face since we got a lot of reduction and some permanent removal on the face. My electrologist urged me to move to thermolysis since she said most of her clients eventually move to electrolysis to get permanent removal of the leftover hairs that laser doesn’t get but that also some patients are perfectly fine with staying on laser since it hurts less and that it’s all subjective.

Anyways, I digress, my question today is that she offers a really wonderful deal wherein you can get the lower legs (knee + calves), underarms and full brazilian done with laser for a really good deal in my opinion ($299). What I am thinking, since I have to prepare surgical sites for bottom surgery some day anyways, is would this be the best course of action to laser all those areas for about a year, maybe more until noticeable reduction and some permanent removal of hairs is noticed? As it stands now, the hair in my bikini area and perianal regions/everything down there is a little bit on the dense side. I’ve done a lot of research and seen that it is usually recommended that mtf do laser first and then go in with electrolysis pretty much leading all the way up until the surgery date to make sure you have 100% clearance of all hairs in the surgical site area so as to avoid any risk of hairs in the vaginal canal post op. I just wanted to ask here since you are all experts on the subject for a second opinion if this is a good idea to laser first, electrolysis later especially on that area since the hairs are so dense and in some cases, there are 2 or even 3 hairs to a follicle! My electrologist said electrolysis would take way longer due to that and seeing as I don’t have any specific dates planned out in the future for surgery yet I don’t have a strict time schedule to abide by right now so I was thinking I could dedicate 1 to 1.5 years of lasering these areas and then another 1-2 years of electrolysis. I just wanna make sure I do it all right since it’s a very massive step in transition and kind of a point of no return :sweat_smile:

anyways, thank you for reading, I’d love to hear your thoughts and any insight on the topic!

#2

My experience is that laser results are temporary and will grow back. It did thin my hairs but just about every follicle has reactivated after a year. Most are too light in pigmentation now for the laser to work. I’ve had full body laser from the neck down, and now over 100 hours into electrolysis. Slowly 1 by 1 the hairs all grew back. I am fair skin (burn easily) with medium hair male for reference. I wish I’d just skipped the laser now and gone straight to electrolysis. I wasted hours of my time driving (an hour each way) plus thousands of $. If you complain the laser place will just tell you need yearly maintenance. Laser lies…If you want 100% permanent go full electrolysis. If you don’t mind chasing light stray hairs or just want to thin it out, use laser.

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#3

It’s true that results from laser are not as predictable as electrolysis. When electrolysis is done properly, it removes every hair permanently. When laser is done properly, it will reduce your hair, but you can’t guarantee whether that reduction will be 20%, 90% or somewhere in between. The closer you are to being the ideal laser candidate, the more likely that you will approach that 90% reduction.

I’ve seen strong but inconsistent results with laser across all body areas. The legs and groin area for people with dark hair and light skin have been consistently positive cases. I tend to recommend laser first before surgery as long as we still have 1.5 - 2 years to follow up with electrolysis. I usually recommend only electrolysis for cases where I don’t believe the laser reduction will be significant or cases where the client only has 1 - 2 years before surgery.

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#4

There are so many factors to consider…Example: Your age (especially with laser), color of hair, HRT (how long on it), are you going on or off HRT at some point, other medications, experience of your provider and more.
The deal sounds good and hope it is quality work. Be sure to watch videos to see how it’s done

Here is a case I’m taking care of now. I have 25 years exp. with laser. 40 years with electrolysis.
26 year old. Male to female on HRT for two years. Dark hair and fair skin.
Full Brazilian and including prep for area for SRS.
Check out the dates and space between visits for LASER Hair Removal. Candela class IV laser.
09/23/2024 #1 session
12/09/2024 #2 session
01/20/2025 #3 session
03/10/2025 #4 session
05/03/2025 #5 session
This last visit I did an evaluation. 3 long blond hairs left and about 15 finer hairs left.
Looks like this person may get the remaining hairs done with electrolysis. They are seeing the surgeon this month and the surgeon may choose to take care of the few follicles themselves, we’ll see.

Check out the Video… you can see the laser pulses are tight together. Some may space out the pulses and not get enough coverage, that means you may need more treatments to get the maybe the missed hairs???

Class IV laser by Candela called the GentleMax Pro

This is the laser I treat clients with-

If you can’t see this video or have questions, email me and I can forward it to you.
Email: drlaser@comcast.net

For more Laser and Electrolysis cases if you’d like to read them in my book:
[Transgender Profiles; Time For A Change]

Enjoy your day.
Linda