Scars/Hyperpigmentation after electrolysis session

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

Hello everyone,
first of I would like to say how a relief it is to be able to find a platform to share my experience and read peoples stories it has helped me a lot in the last weeks of insomnia.

I am a 26year old female from France, I have been wanting to do electrolysis for a while, and finally decided to have my first session back on March 15th , some of my friends have been doing electrolysis for years and never had any issues, however I was afraid to do this procedure at home (I am living in Tbilisi and usually electrolysis technicians work from their home), so I decided to go to a dermatologist who could offer me what at the time seemed to be the best facility to have the procedure done to me!
My mum being Indian, I have medium skin and I have always been afraid of getting scars or hyperpigmentation from electrolysis… The dermatologist reassured me, told me not to worry and assured me I was in good professional hands, we did a 15min session as a test session on my chin area with the blend method (i had to hold some metallic rod in my hand), she went back in some place several times and I think she put the power higher because some of my hair weren’t dying and the pain was a little more intense. After the 15min had passed she told me that I will have a bruise but not too worry and it was because I ‘‘have sensitive skin’’ lol… but I understood that she went too deep and hit my capillary and it resulted in a bruise. In that moment I had instant regret since my friends told me it never happens when you are treated by an experienced electrolysis technician…
Here are the photos of the following days and how my skin healed:

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At the time I was more worried about the bruise than anything else… but little did I know that the bruise was just temporary… I gave a daily update to the dermatologist who treated me and she told me to put TRAUMEEL to make the bruise heal faster and so eventually it faded a few days later.
Her aftercare advice was to:

  • Use chlorhexidine to clean the area morning and night
  • no workout, no hot bath, sauna for the first 48h.
  • do not pick, rub or touch the area.
  • SPF is a must

I did everything that she told me to do and not for 48h, for 4/5 days just in case…
I was at home and didn’t expose myself to sunlight. after a few days the scabs started falling, and some in the shower… Is it my fault? did I soak my skin too long in the shower and made the healing period longer?

After a few days had passed I started having breakouts in some places (APRIL 24th)
(The area is a bit white and the little tiny white particules aren’t skin, it’s because of the sudocream)

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The dermatologist advised me to start using SUDOCREAM (antiseptic ointment) morning and night. She then told me to come over for a led treatment (blue light) to treat the acne, it worked pretty well, the acne faded quickly.

And here we are about 2months later (May10th)
I think I have some scars, hyperpigmentation and I have an acne spot (red area):
(The area is a bit white and the little tiny white particules aren’t skin, it’s because of the sudocream)

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Is my skin ruined? Are these permanent scars? Can I continue electrolysis without causing further damage? not going back to that dermatologist that’s for sure!
I have so much hair left and was hopping to treat the area in the following weeks…
At this point my self esteem is so low… my boyfriend and friends tell me it isn’t visible but I can clearly see it and have been looking at myself in the mirror several times a day for over 2 months now and I am so depressed… Please help :pensive:
@Bono @Hairadicator any advice?
:pensive: :sparkling_heart: :pray:
Thank you in advance for reading my story and giving me any advice :sparkling_heart:

#2

Scarring from one electrolysis session is rare and would typically happen from an extremely horrific treatment. While I consider your treatment to be unacceptable, it is far from horrific. In your images from April and May, I can see hyperpigmentation and wound contraction. These are both normal reactions to electrolysis, both temporary, but they do take many months to resolve.

I don’t see any permanent damage. These will either resolve completely or resolve to the point that you would have to look very close at the skin under magnification to be able to see.

You’ve given your skin two months to heal. I would say you can proceed with more electrolysis, but it must be with a properly skilled electrologist who can remove the hair without causing the initial reaction that caused you so much worry.

However, you need to be aware that continuing electrolysis will result in more hyperpigmentation and wound contraction (this can be minimised by a skilled electrologist) for the length of your treatments. Once all treatments are finished, your hyperpigmentation will fade over the course of many months.

Your hair in this area is very fine and should not require a lot of energy to release, and I really don’t think a traditional blend approach is the best one in this case.

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#3

hello @Thermo, thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my story! Your opinion really helped me to calm down. I’m reassured about the hyperpigmentation and wound contraction, so for that thank you!

I was wondering, in my story above I mentioned the area to be white because of the antiseptic ointment but in fact I have just realised that, since I didn’t have this prior to the treatment… The area is actually white because of a lost of melanin due to the procedure and not because of any ointment… (you can see it from day5 of my photo of the healing process and on the photo of April) :cold_sweat:
Is it also a normal reaction? Will this resolve it’s self?
Thank you again for your help

#4

A loss of pigment is called hypopigmentation, which is the opposite of hyperpigmentation.

Hypopigmentation from electrolysis is much less common, but is easily noticeable and more commonly happens to people who have sun tanned skin. It’s also not usually permanent as the pigmentation evens out through sun exposure or avoiding sun exposure.

Having said that, I don’t see any sign of hypopigmentation in your images at all.

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#5

Understood. Thank you for your reply. It’s quite frustrating to have to deal with this, while my friends don’t have any traces left of the procedure after 10days… hopefully I will be able to avoid the 2months of healing time with the trained therapist I’m going to see in June, she has been doing this for 10+ years and my friend never had any issues so I’m going to give it a shot. Thank you again

#6

Coucou,

Je viens de lire ton topic et j’ai un premier rdv de consultation jeudi. J’ai tellement peur de vivre ce que tu as vécu.

Surtout que je traite la zone intersourcillière donc je trouve que c’est encore plus visible quand quelqu’un me parle…

Quelle praticienne comptes-tu voir pour ton prochain RDV ?

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