I have PCOS and unfortunately, it has caused hirsutism all over my body. Recently, dark coarse hair has been sprouting on my chin and I decided to get electrolysis to deal with it. I chose an electrologist in my area that has been working for over 30 years and had good reviews on Google. When I went to my free consult, I expressed how my biggest fear was scarring from electrolysis. She assured me that she has never had anyone get pitted scarring from her and explained that only happens when people get scabs. Fast forward to my first 15minute session with her, she put a numbing cream on my chin and went to work. It was painful, almost like I could feel her inserting her probe in my chin and then I thought I felt my hair “plucking” out, but she said it was coming out fine when I asked her. She finished my chin really fast and asked if she could do a few of my upper lip hairs. I said no, I just wax that area but she was very insistent and kind of pressured me into doing my upper lip hair. She kind of made it seem like not a big deal, so I reluctantly went with it. Well, she didn’t put any numbing cream on my upper lip and when she started, I felt a hot/warming sensation. My skin felt really heated. Once she was all done, I asked if my skin looked ok and she said it looked fine. I got in my car and noticed my chin and upper lip were red, but that there was also a bunch of blood spots all over. In addition, my chin did not hurt but my upper lip had a burning sensation afterward. Later that same day I got whiteheads and scabs on my chin and upper lip. Some were pinpoint scabs, but also there were some that kind of looked like lines across my skin. The next day, that burning sensation hadn’t gone away and I went to see my electrologist again. She said she has never had anyone have a burning sensation and then said my scabs were normal (even though at my consult she said they weren’t). She told me not to panic and just said ice the area. Well, it has been four days and my upper lip feels so tight and every time I speak or eat there is pain. It is hard to sleep and even though I am very careful when I wash my face, some of the scabs came off too early. So, I have indents on my upper lip and chin…. after ONE session. I can’t even put into words how upset I am because I didn’t even want to do my upper lip. Does anyone have any idea why I have line scabs? Scabs in general? What this burning/tight sensation on my upper lip is? I did more research after my appointment and read that scarring takes months to appear, so does that mean this is just going to get worse? She used a thermolysis machine so I guess it was set too high and cooked my skin. I live in FL and most everyone does thermolysis around me. I have been putting aloe vera, antibiotic ointment, and Aquaphor on the areas worked on.
Do you have a few before after photos?
How do I do that?
Please post pictures. You live in FL, use SPF everyday on your face and neck at the least. Skin is very resilient, so be patient with the healing Depending on skin type, color, medicine and where you are in your monthly cycle, all of those can affect healing and sensitivity. Wash gently 2x a day and use antibiotic cream for no more that 5 days.
You can either upload to an image hosting website like https://imgur.com/, or you should be able to upload directly when you make a reply. There’s a button to let you upload images.
Having some visual reference is always helpful. It does sound as though the settings/exposure time were too high. Bleeding, extensive scabbing, a burning/tight sensation many days after treatment… all of this is abnormal after a proper treatment. I would not recommend returning to this electrologist for another treatment.
It’s unlikely you’ll see any significant long-term damage from this one treatment. Scarring takes months to appear typically over several treatment sessions. Allow your skin to heal, avoid physical scrubbing or using any harsh exfoliants, you don’t need to bombard it with a range of skincare products. When you take up electrolysis again, insist on having a short trial session and/or seeing some examples of previous work if possible
Here is a link to some of the photos I took. I don’t have any good photos of the whiteheads that formed afterwards though and indents are kind of hard to take pics of https://imgur.com/a/NmPO3uH
I linked the photos, also is this more of a human error or more to do with the thermolysis technique? https://imgur.com/a/NmPO3uH
Most of the photos are out of focus. Among the ones that are not, I do not see a problem.