Hi, I’ve had my second electrolysis treatment yesterday, on my upper lip. This time there is some scabbing (pic attached). It’s this normal? My skin hyperpigments easily so I’m worried that this will happen here.
The method was thermolysis but I don’t know much more than that (probe type, settings, etc). I’ve been keeping it clean and using moisturiser.
Should I be worried?
I personally don’t accept scabbing on the face, in particular on the upper lip and lip corners. It’s excessive trauma to the skin, elevates the likelihood of pigmentation and uneven skin texture, and this then causes too much concern for the client.
I don’t predict that you’ll have any long term issues, but you should expect some pigmentation and uneven texture which will resolve with time.
Your hair appears very fine and easily treatable, which makes me question this outcome even more. You can raise the issue with your electrologist and gauge her response and willingness to change her approach. You might also like to do some trial treatments with other electrologists so you have a comparison.
Thanks for your reply! I got in touch with the electrologist and they gave the following reply:
“The area looks normal. It takes a couple of days to heal because the skin has a burn mark. I understood that you had had epilation before? You can moisturize the skin lightly and because of this treatment, you should avoid the sun for 2 weeks after the epilation.”
I was quite surprised by this, given that I’ve seen posts on this forum and others with far less scabbing where the conclusion was it shouldn’t be like that. Also when I’ve previously had electrolysis in the same area, there was nowhere near this level of scabbing. I have a feeling the electrologist isn’t going to take any responsibility here. I won’t be going there again.
It’s great that you raised the issue with her, but her response indicates that this is normal for her and she wouldn’t change her approach.
You really shouldn’t see any long term issues. Scabbing is a very normal reaction for other areas and does not develop into scarring unless the treatment itself was particularly bad. The sort of scabbing which is acceptable on the upper lip is the pin prick sized scabbing, which you can see on some follicles in your picture. Anything larger than that on the upper lip is just poor work.
You don’t need to do anything special while your skin heals. You can moisturise as normal, but you should avoid anything that could cause the scabs to rub off prematurely. They will slough off on their own within two weeks. During this time, you should avoid excessive sun exposure.
Hope your healing has shown more improvements as time goes on.
I recommend for faster healing to my clients to use salt and warm water.
Yes right away. Sure it stings for a short moment, but it really works well for less scabbing or marks after an electrolysis treatment. The scabs can form within 24 hours following the treatment, so apply the salt & water before the scabbing appears is best. For 3-5 days after your treatment, apply, after your shower an over-the-counter Bacitracin or Neosporin. Check with your electrologist for post care instructions.
I completely agree with what other participants have written; such a reaction is not normal. I recommend discussing this issue with your specialist. If they disagree or do not understand the mistakes and what is happening, I suggest simply changing to a different professional who will perform the procedure more delicately and will not harm your skin.
Thank you all for your responses! I’m feeling a lot better about how it’s looking now that the scabs have fallen off (by themselves – I haven’t picked them). I’ve been keeping it out of the sun, and the hyperpigmentation is a lot less than I expected.
I’m going to let it heal for a few months before doing any more hair removal (apart from shaving). Would you recommend I stick with electrolysis, or go back to laser once it’s healed a bit? I had good experiences with laser over a few years, and the only reason I switched to electrolysis was because I loved to somewhere where there are no laser clinics with experience of dark skin. If I travel a bit I can probably find one though. Thoughts?
Hi Evoludo, Thanks for the updated photo of your upper lip healing. It appears to me you have thicker type skin, not a bad thing. Healing may take longer. And with laser hair removal treatments, people can get skin rejuvenation or skin tightening at the same time too. So my thoughts are the pores are tighter especially on the smaller or finer hairs. Laser again is fine only when totally healed. However, electrolysis can be better, if there are very little roots left or weaker roots (from laser). The electrologist can let you know about the roots of the hair during an electrolysis treatment whether it’s strong or weak and the stages of growth it’s in, etc… Hope this helps.
It’s looking good. You should see strong improvement in the next two to three months, but it may take longer to completely resolve.
I haven’t seen laser have amazing results on people with your hair density and skin colour. You might see a slight reduction, but I would personally stick with electrolysis once you find a good one. It would be a big commitment at first, but once you get it under control, ongoing treatments will be very manageable until the hair is completely gone.
