TEMPORARY SIDE EFFECTS WITH ELECTROLYSIS

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#81

I’m not sure who I’m addressing here … palerose or Howard Shore? Nevertheless … my own take on your situation:

First off, even though it takes me (on average) less than 100 hours to remove a man’s beard, I will never do extensive work, say, clear the face in only one week; or multiple hours in one day.

For this reason, I only take body cases, not beard cases, if they are coming from a distant city. The body can withstand “marathon” sessions … but from what I do the face will usually react with long-term marks,(NOT permanent … long-term). Others will disagree with me, but this is my own experience.

Your only remedy for “red marks” is to find an excellent “cover make-up.” What you are seeing is angiogenesis (blood vessels regrowing) and there is no treatment that can, or should, interfere with this normal healthy skin response.

If your physician has given you “pills,” he’s assuming you have some sort of infection. These antibiotics are powerful and designed specifically for skin infections. Such medications as Keflex (or Zithromax)are good ones … (Still, I don’t think that’s what is going on. But DO finish the pills, just in case!)

Over the years, I have seen negative results from being too aggressive on the face (beard). This is especially true if local anesthetic is being used … with “no pain,” the operator seems to go “balls-to-the-wind” and thus creates (temporary) problems.

I’m always thinking of one factor: the finished product. And, that should be a lifetime of perfect skin. Frankly, there is no client that can push me into doing more than I know is safe. (A few weeks ago I dismissed a client that would not follow safety instructions and pushed me … in this case too far).

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#82

In order not to use the “Before & After electrolysis” thread to describe and document the temporary side effects with electrolysis, I would like to continue this interesting topic here. Since this thread is anchored, it will be much easier to find the necessary information regarding what can happen after an electrolysis treatment.

HYPERPIGMENTATION:

Before (July 2014):

5 months later. Before second clearance (December 2014):

7 months later. Before third clearance (July 2015):

11 months later. Before fourth clearance (June 2016)

As you can see, 3 clearings made in the course of a year have been enough to kill 99% of the hairs. However, hyperpigmentation has taken 2 years to disappear almost completely.

#83

ANGIOGENESIS:

A very, very, very common side effect on the fingers and toes.

Before (March 2013)

3 months later (June 2013)

One year later (June 2014):

(A couple of years ago, Hairtell was used to attack me on the false pretext that I was ignoring a question about angiogenesis that had been made to me privately. I just realized that most of the photos about temporary side effects in Hairtell have been posted by me. Funny, right?)

#84

Gorgeous!

#85

Josefa, thanks for those real examples of what temporary side effects are like.

#86

Beautiful work, great photo documentation.

#87

Hi all, I just had my second weekly 30 minute electrolysis session on my chin and upper lip two days ago. The hair that my electrolysist is focusing on are the darkest and coarsest ones for now, she gets me mostly clear every session minus a few thinner hairs and the hair in my middle of my upper lip. Each time I have a lot of redness, swelling, scabs, and pustules. The day of treatment I usually look normal by bedtime, but the next day the scabbing begins and the following day the pustules are full force. She used a different probe during my last visit to try to minimize my reaction but it seems to be the same. We discussed changing my sessions to 45 minutes every other week to give my skin more time to heal between sessions, but I am in a hurry to get that first round of hairs taken care of (I’m a reformed tweezer). As far as care of my face I am using a cold compress, aloe, witch hazel, and hydrocortisone for inflammation. Should I just deal with this as a normal skin reaction and push through, or switch my treatment schedule?

#88

Sadly the only thing I’ve figured that gave me less skin reactions were to do… less hair! I’d suggest doing some kind of ‘‘thinning’’ method instead of clearing the whole area, but if you only do 30min sessions you probably don’t have much hair there already. You’re in luck because weekly sessions will also mean you’ll be gifted with constant redness and pustules for months. Temporary skin reactions like these are normal https://imgur.com/N9LuAa1

#89

MrsV you can try going every other week to see if it makes a big difference. But I would not use so many products at once. I would minimize use of hydrocortisone–it’s still a steroid that carries side effects over long term use. Electrolysis is a long term process and use of hydrocortisone with every session is bad in my opinion.

You should attempt Josefa’s method of applying a thick layer of bepanthen diaper rash cream and occlude it with plastic wrap for 6 hours to over night. It stops scab formations and reduces redness.
I’m a strong proponent of this method. I used to develop nasty scabs on my some area before doing this.

#90

WOW!!!

Hi Fenix, thank you for trusting and confirming my impressions. It’s great that we have come to the same conclusion. :smiley:

#91

Interesting! Never heard of diaper rash cream being used for this. Question…does it have to be “bepanthen” cream or can it be any cream for diaper rash like Desitin, A&D, etc? It looks like bepanthen is found in the UK and/or Oz and I’m in the US.

#92

Bepanthen is sold on Amazon $10 per tube, it ships to U.S.
If scabbing is main concern, I found that Cetaphil with same protocol achieves similar results, but Bepanthen has more soothing properties which helps with irritation and swelling as well.

#93

I should give that a try! I had never heard of it before (and I’m a mom to three) but that’s because it doesn’t sell in the US. I see I can order some online though, it doesn’t seem like we have an American version. All our diaper rash creams seem to be zinc oxide.

#94

I’m pretty sure that other diaper rash creams would work similarly. They all have ingredients to control irritation and inflammation of skin. Extra moisturizing factor in baby rash creams minimizes scab formation where it slides off the skin easily without picking. “Zinc oxide topical (for the skin) is used to treat diaper rash, minor burns, severely chapped skin, or other minor skin irritations.”

#95

Hi, I would like to add my little experience and ask how serious damage this is. First a little background. I had electrolysis session about 2 months ago. It was done on my chin with device called Sinepil which if I am not mistaken uses blend. I dont know the exact setting used on me but it had to be extremely high. I also had prior laser which I read that might also make matters worse.

I was left with scabs. This wouldnt be the worst part, it can happen sometime, I know. What worries me is the healing process. I did everything in my power to not mess up the after care. I left the scabs alone, I wasched my face and applied antibiotic cream etc.

The result after 2 months is horrible. I was left with what I can only describe as hyperigmentation and some of the bigger spots are bit caved in. I really hope it doesnt leave permanent scaring, but I fear it will. The hyperpigmentation seems to be fading really slowly. I use 30spf makeup to cover it so it should be well protected against UV. I am treating it with anti scaring silicone gell called Strataderm so I hope it will help too.

Sorry about the quality of the picture I was unable to focus it better.

[img]https://s14.postimg.cc/err91jfrl/IMG_7492.jpg[/img]

My question is simple. What is the opinion on this? Is this going to leave the scaring as I think or it might resolve? I am also worried about the hyperpigmentation being permanent which I hope is not since I have really hard time covering it with makeup. Is there any way to repair this kind of damage? CO2 Laser, chemical peels, etc…?

Needles to say I switched the electrologist imediately and so far nothing like this happened. I am “lucky” I had only one test session. The unlucky part is that the electrologist that did this was really fast and made a lot of damage in just one session.

#96

I’ve had terrible electro done on me on my first session too. I’ll tell you what happened to me as I believe our damage might be similar. Ok good news: the colour will be back to normal in a few months. Bad news: the ‘‘caved in’’ part might not.

This is what I looked like a month after the treatment, still some redness: https://imgur.com/a/TrUDS

5 months in, the redness had faded away but the ‘‘craters’’ remained: https://imgur.com/a/5236g

I’ve had Dermapen treatments (micro-needling) after which worked a little bit, but I’m not quite convinced time itself wouldn’t have done the same. The skin has amazing healing abilities! By ‘‘worked’’, I mean it seemed to have lessened them, but not completely remove them.

I could’ve had laser treatments too, but decided it wasn’t worth it for me. I’ve talked to someone here whom had it done after several years past her electro damage and she says it has helped tremendously.

Beware, ranty part

Unpopular opinion but until someone proves me wrong (not based on hearsay), I’m convinced that laser, needling, chemical peels, dermabrasion and all those cosmetic repair procedures do the same thing, and you can easily replicate the effect at home without paying a hefty price. They either scrape (chemical peels, dermabrasion and to a certain extent laser) or pierce/remove (laser, needling) the skin. Only the degree of damage (because it damages the skin so it can heal itself back) varies between intensity and methods, but they all do the same thing!

I’ve conducted my own little personal research at home on this (still ongoing) so if anyone wants to come for me, you better have done yours too. I find the cosmetic dermatology field so vague that I can never find the truth anywhere, even the professionals/experts have different opinions…

Ok, rant over lol

I prefer my ‘‘prepare for the worst’’ approach so I’m not going to tell you that your damage isn’t permanent, because chances are even if it isn’t, you’ll still see some imperfections.

Truth is, your brain will probably worry about this for a while (a year and a half for me), but after this, it too will ‘‘heal’’ and you won’t have that nagging feeling of despair when looking at the damage, if you still see it.

Anyway, it’s a bit difficult to judge based on your picture, try taking a few clearer ones with different angles near a window, if you don’t mind.

#97

Hi, thanks for reply. Yep you are right. I will try to take better picture in the daylight. This was taken before putting on makeup in the bathroom, so it is bad quality and lighting.

Our results look simillar for which I am sorry. I know what a pain it is. Good news is that it will fade in time. It is hell. I have to use heavy makeup on the chin and than it looks ok. Scars are scarry, but if laser works I can deal with the fact that i got mutilated. I also have some acne scaring on my nose and chin so it will be done in one blast after jawline surgery. That is why I got test run on the chin. I hope It will help the skin to heal the scaring and also help with the possibility of bit loser skin after the surgery by making it tighter when resurfaced with new collagen.

I still hope for the best but it really doesnt hurt to prepare for the worst.

#98

Have you thought about confronting the electrologist that did this to you? I know it’s quite early in your healing process but still, talking to the person might be a good idea for starters.

#99

Well, she said that the scabs are normal and didn’t see anything wrong with that which tells me that she is a bad electrologist. If this is normal to her, then I really feel for those people, that she also treated.

When I switched to new electrologist, which is great by the way, she said, that the damage might be permanent but gave me a cream for it in the hope it might fix it. After the second electrologist treatment, I had no regrowth what so ever and no scabs or dots left, which to me seems like a job well done. It also tells me a lot about the first electrologist that did this, was really bad choice and doesn’t know her stuff.

I don’t give people second chance to screw me especially when it is or might be permanent.

#100

Have you done electro on the area after the damage or it’s really just once and never touched thereafter?