Potential Scarring on my thighs?

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hi everyone,

I’ve had successful electrolysis on my chin and cheeks for around 10 months - my skin is between Fitzpatrick type I and II and while my skin would be red with occasional ‘dots’ post treatment, within a day there was no visible traces.

I moved onto my thighs which I knew would be more sensitive and a slower area to treat. I started 6 weeks ago and am struggling to achieve a full clearance on one thigh. I’m focusing on coarser hairs on inner and back of thigh, not the tops or fine vellus hairs. So, I booked in weekly 45 min sessions for the past 5 weeks which I’m now worried was maybe over treatment as after the 1st treatment I did have lots of little red dots which turned darker and some quite purple. This worsened after the second and now they haven’t lessened or gone away at all in a month. I have tried lavender oil, aloe vera - every type of post care treatment I can think of.

My practioner says I seem to be slow at healing but we didn’t have problems on my face or abdomen as severe. She gave my left thigh a rest today (it has had most treatments) and focused on the right more. I came straight home and kept cold compresses to them, put on pure lavender oil and then aloe vera gel but it is still getting scabs a few hours later.

I’ve now read horror stories online (I know, not a good idea!) warning of hyperpigmentation and how plastic surgeons will be the only help I can get following this treatment. Is there anything else I can do? Is my struggle for an initial full clearance resulting in over treatment? I can’t decide how much I should persevere or what other questions/advice I can get from my practioner…she is the most experienced I have been able to find in a 500 mile radius and I know she is good from previous treatments with her.

Any advice would be so appreciated - sorry for the length of the post!

#2

“So, I booked in weekly 45 min sessions for the past 5 weeks which I’m now worried was maybe over treatment as after the 1st treatment I did have lots of little red dots which turned darker and some quite purple.”

Doesn’t sound like over treatment to me. Transsexuals usually have 10+ hours of 1st clearance on a small area like face - in LESS than a month.

“I moved onto my thighs which I knew would be more sensitive and a slower area to treat.My practioner says I seem to be slow at healing but we didn’t have problems on my face or abdomen as severe”

This is MY experience- Hyperpigmentation on legs takes longer to fade away than HP on face and trunk (I wonder why).

“I’ve now read horror stories online (I know, not a good idea!) warning of hyperpigmentation and how plastic surgeons will be the only help I can get following this treatment. Is there anything else I can do? Is my struggle for an initial full clearance resulting in over treatment? I can’t decide how much I should persevere or what other questions/advice I can get from my practioner…she is the most experienced I have been able to find in a 500 mile radius and I know she is good from previous treatments with her.”

Hyperpigmentation often resolves on its own in 3-24 months. You can use skin lightening creams to speed up the process.

I’d suggest you stop electrolysis treatments for now.

There is a possibility that your electrologist is doing something wrong. I’m not an electrologist and so I can’t help much with the technicalities.

#3

Quality pictures are ALWAYS helpful. Can you upload some pictures of the areas that concern you.

Body work skin reaction is different than facial work side effects. I am not concerned, but I have not seen any pictures yet.

Full clearance on a thigh depends on how much hair you have, how long you can lay on the table, your sensation tolerance and the modality of electrolysis that is being used. Forty-five minutes a week for five weeks is a decent start. You are not being over treated and you don’t need to stop. I would not over medicate with all these products. Aloe is fine. You can apply it after gently cleansing with soap and water. A variety of topical medicants can actually interfer with the natural healing process, so cool it on doing too much to try and speed up the healing process.

Talk to your electrologist about this as well. Always be open about your concerns. Electrolysis has some down time. For body work, prepare yourself for temporary side effects. It is okay and will subside. Maybe your electrologist can change some things to minimize these normal side effects, but don’t be in a panic because they occur. I don’t think you are a slow healer, but if you smoke and have a poor food intake, it may take you longer to heal.

The newer high tech epilators, with better probes work well to reduce these kinds of reactions that scare clients, as long as the electrologist is trained or re-trained in their use. ALL professional epilators will “kill” hair. The difference in healing outcome comes from the the skill of the electrologist and what happens when the client goes home.

Horror stories on the Internet about electrolysis are abundant and mostly false, so don’t dwell on horror stories. You will have skin manifestations that are temporary. These are tiny wounds that will heal from the bottom up, like all wounds do. Give it time. Talk to your electrologist. Don’t over-medicate by putting all kinds of junk on the healing wounds. My bet is that you will be fine and you will just love feeling smooth.

Just to add, I once purposely over treated a place on my upper thigh to see what would happen. I did scab and then I had hyperpigmention for about six months. All is back to normal again. Before that, I had hair removed from my legs and they were a gosh dern mess in regard to healing. It took plenty of time to get back to normal, maybe three months ? When I do leg work on my ladies, there are reddish dots that last for a couple of weeks. They are small, so they don’t scare off my clients, but I warn them that this may occur and all is accepted. Some clients heal without scabbing or dotting, too. I owe this outcome to my high tech epilator and probe choice. It is truly good and most satisfying to deliver this kind of outcome to my clients.

Good luck to you.

#4

Assuming that each time you covered the area first treated (a few new hairs in that area) then areas outside of that had not been previously treated, you can expect that there will continue to be the little red spots. As earlier ones fade, new ones appear due to the new hairs treated.

I am appalled by some of the websites that indicate electrolysis equals horror…I’ve never known anyone who needed a plastic surgeon to fix any injury from treatment.

#5

Thank you so much for the encouragement - i’m glad to know I am not over treating.
Tried to take a few images to show best the marks. These are taken 6 days after a treatment.

http://tinypic.com/r/2r2r668/5
http://tinypic.com/r/vgracz/5

Actually, taking the pictures has shown me that it might not be as bad as I had feared! I think it is just because it’s over a large area it intially looks more dramatic to me. That plus the length of time it takes for them to fade. I can be patient so long as I get rid of the hair :slight_smile:

The only thing I am truly worried about now is how little progress I am making looking at these pictures :frowning:
I wish I could book in for about 2 hours to get more of a clearance but she doesn’t do bookings as long as that. I live in Ireland and I haven’t been able to find a great variety in practitioners here - perhaps if I visit America or London this year I will try to look up an electrologist who could give me a longer treatment…it is sore but I can tolerate the 45 minute sessions well and could handle longer. Sometimes I just need to know that I am going about it the right way as it is so expensive that I worry I am not doing it right!

Thank you all so much again
xox

#6

Seeing your pictures does make me wonder about a few things. Were the hairs removed much more coarse (larger diameter and darker) than the hairs that are left? That would explain why there are random spots away from the rest…

Getting longer appointments will allow you to get that first clearance for sure.

#7

I’ve not had this area treated but it looks like the normal development of scabs?

How many hairs per minute are removed? Is that a limiting factor too in your sessions?

You could certainly make some good headway in America. In London too, if you can put in the hours. Do you use EMLA?

#8

Bad news first, you’ll probably have dots for about 1-2 years but the good news is they get less over time and go away faster. 4-6 months after your last treatment they should be gone completely.

There are definitely faster electrologists out there, they can clean the inner thighs on both legs in 5 sessions (or 1-2 marathon sessions).

#9

1-2 years sounds so scary! I wish I knew of a faster electrologist here but there is very very few speciliased clinics - a lot of beauticians who do it and the lady I am with is the only specialised electrolysist clinic in my city.

I don’t use EMLA either.

Barbara - the hairs removed were a little coarser but not much. In the pictures you can see hairs that I am still waiting to have removed (especially in the first picture and in 2nd picture the hairs towards top of the image I am waiting to have treated).

I really do not know how many types of hair she treats per minute - I think she is a lovely woman and I am very comfortable with her but I do wish I could get a longer appointment with someone who works a bit faster as I feel I could be wasting a bit of my time. I will probably be in London before America, I wonder if anyone has a gd reccomendation for there or knows of anyone in Ireland on this board?

Good old Ireland, always slightly behind on these things and on choice too haha

#10

p.s do you think there is a way I could ask her if we are going slowly/could go quicker? I do not want to offend her and do not really know how to bring it up. I think next week I will tell her I would like to come for as long an appointment she can give me as I am eager to get a clearance !

#11

The reason I suggest EMLA is that if you manage to get longer appointments - with her or anyone else, it will help you manage that longer time.

Where are you going in America?

In London, there is my old electrologist. If you book ahead, she can give you a lot of time I expect. Especially if you call and explain your situation.

Her speed is her speed… it would not be useful to ask her to go quicker…but requesting longer sessions, yes.

#12

Yes, I know, I was not particularly happy either, when I realized that I’d be Mrs. Dotty for such a long time.(By the time they heal it’s time for a new session.) But I do think it would be worth it for you to check with a faster electrologist.

Because for the same time you have needed for a partial clearance of 1 inner thigh, a fast electrologist would have cleaned out every single hair from both inner thighs - not just the coarse ones but everything. Sadly one must consider that saves money too.

The next complete clearance needs less time, and less and less until there are no hair left.

#13

This is how scabs develop. However, scabs of this degree could and should be avoided.

The degree of these scabs “could” result in spots that last for a months after the last treatment…another reason they should be avoided.

EMLA really shouldn’t be used on large areas. It is my understanding that it is really for a few square inches.

The reason I asked about the coarseness is because there are a lot of hairs left…and perhaps the reason the work is so scattered is because she focused on the larger diameter hairs - which would be scattered in the pattern of the scabs. Perhaps when she gets to the remaining hairs she will adjust the intensity and timing in such a way you won’t have such an extreme healing reaction. I think it’s extreme - maybe others won’t agree…

#14

I agree that this degree of skin reaction is not necessary. Since it is the thighs, I did not add exclamation points to the end of my first sentence. This frightens and discourages people away from electrolysis unnecessarily. It will heal and fade.

EMLA precautions should be heeded for large areas over 4" x 4". Many forge ahead and apply over larger areas without incident, though. This is why the newer modalities of thermolysis and blend on high tech epilators are so valuable today. Used properly, the skin reaction is nothing compared to this second degree scabbing and anesthetic help is really not needed.

There appears to be a shifting toward better technique (skill) and less skin reaction with the high tech epilators choices that are available to electrologists today. When the scales tip, we may see less threads like these.

#15

Well EMLA is routinely used in Laser clinics when they do full leg treatments, for example.

But you only need to apply it over however much of an area she can clear in a given time, if you need it.

#16

Thanks everyone - i am a little frightened now that the marks will be permanent if everyone thinks they are extreme? But I am pushing ahead…I wish i could get the clearance faster as money is an issue but I had another appointment yesterday and saw enough of a difference to feel a bit more positive.

My electrologist ammeneded the settings on her machine yesterday she said to lower it and the burn/pain and swelling after wasn’t half as severe. Today my scabs are a lot paler than the picture I showed before so hopefully this new setting will help? if the machine is lowered though will it make the hair removal less effective?

thank you all so much for your advice, knowledge and encouragement!

#17

I will bet you that these skin manifestations are temporary, so relax and donot loose sleep worrying.

As long as the hair slides out, you will still get permanent hair removal. There are many recipes for configuring the intensity and timing for affecting the hair follicle so it can’t nourish another hair ever again.