This Monday I had my first thermolysis session. I had bought some EMLA (wow, it sure is expensive! About 11 US dollars or 89 Swedish crones for only 5 grams!) and intended to put it on my armpits and then some plastic foil around it. What a disaster! I put some EMLA on my left armpit, but couldn’t figure out how to keep it in place with the plastic foil (I should maybe mention that I was very stressed at that point and unable to think clearly, so you won’t think that I’m a big idiot! LOL! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />). Well, so I had to wash it off. After that, I only had about 2 grams of EMLA left (how typical!), so I put it on my left arm – a place where I knew that I couldn’t fail to keep it in place. Great, so 1,5 hours afterwards I shake hands with the woman that’s going to work on me. She has her practice in the basement of her own house; it’s really cosy and looks clean and fresh.
I laid down on a big bed and was happy to see that she used a magnifying glass. I was prepared to feel a lot of pain when she would start (I’ve had laser done on my forehead before [without EMLA though] and experienced the worst kind of pain I’ve ever felt before), but I could barely tell when she started!! What a RELIEF! I felt barely anything throughout the whole session (1 hour)! I even asked her to try on an area that had not been affected by the EMLA… This was actually a little painful, but still not nearly as painful as the experience I had with the laser. I was a little nervous about the fact that I didn’t feel so much when the EMLA affected area was treated, since I didn’t know if I would notice any tweezing then. And I didn’t either, not by the “feel” anyways, but I could see that she had to “tug” with the tweezers some times, as if the hair was still “stuck”. I don’t know if this happens even the best electrologists sometimes, hopefully it didn’t happen to often this time.
I forgot to ask her what machine she used, but I asked why she didn’t do galvanic and she said that it just was to slow to work with. She wouldn’t have the patience. Although I’d rather get rid of my facial hairs than my arm hairs, I have decided to never touch my face with the thermolysis method, because the risk of scarring and prematuring skin. I’d only choose galvanic to treat my facial hairs, the biggest problem for me now is to find someone who does that.
Anyway, afterwards, she cleaned of my arm with water, alcohol and then put some aloe vera on. The arm was really red and bumpy. Every insertion site could be seen with a red dot, and it still can, although the dots are much smaller now and not bumpy at all. I had some overall swelling yesterday morning, but nothing now. The area seems to form some small scabs, but other than that it seems to be fine. I only use aloe vera, since I got a bad reaction from the tea tree oil when I tested it on a little spot on my hand (the area got really dry and itchy!). I’m still waiting for the witch hazel I ordered from the Internet.
This Friday I’ll have treatment on my right arm. I’ll take photos of the progress this time, and if there’s any interest of it here I’ll also post the pictures on this site.
Thank you all for the answers and thoughts I got on my previous questions. Good to know that it isn’t “dangerous” if the treated area gets in contact with water, so I won’t have to be neurotic about keeping my arm away every time I use water fore some reason. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
I’ll try to keep you posted with my progress!
Best regards,
/julia