Using an IV/anesthetic to relax

Hair Removal Methods Professional Electrolysis
#1

I’ve had 14 electrolysis sessions of 2-3 hours each to remove chest and back hair. The results have been excellent and I am almost done. I receive lidocaine injections to numb the affected area; without these I would never have been able to tolerate the pain.

I want to do both arms, which have a lot of white hair following successful laser hair removal of all the black hair. My doctor suggested using an IV (intravenous) that would not put me under, but put me into a very relaxed state, combined with cold (ice) compresses.

What do people think about this?

Thanks in advance.

#2

Why IV sedation now when you had injections for larger parts for 14 sessions? The IV sedation sounds like what oral surgeons use for wisdom tooth removal. I had that type of sedation, but I’m not aware of risks or safety for prolong use of such sedation.

How soon did you go for the next session between each clearance?

#3

Well I think the reason is that the doctor knows I am not that crazy about the lidocaine injections. I never counted them, but I think he gives me about thirty injections to do my entire chest and stomach. They are not pleasant, although they’re a lot better than having electrolysis without the anesthetic, which is simply unbearable.

The area around the circumference of my forearm from the elbow to wrist is actually a pretty big area, multiplied by two… I think that’s why he suggested the semi-sedation.

Actually I have my doubts whether being sedated would actually lower my sensitivity to pain. Does it really work that way?

To answer your question, the period between electrolysis sessions has been around 2-3 months.

#4

why have you not used EMLA?

#5

I’m not for this at all.

The arm area is very tolerable for my clients. My God, what kind of epilator and probes are being used to cause this level of pain? This is totally foreign to me and doesn’t describe what my clients experience.

Kostik, please be careful.

#6

For doing the both arms, some injections or EMLA cream should be enough. I agree with Dee Fahey.

#7

I can see how EMLA can be a logistic nightmare, time consuming, never know how much area to cover so that you don’t waste it if electrologist doesn’t have speed or time to treat all hair in EMLA treated area.

I was IV sedated 5 times in my life. 3 for wisdom tooth extractions and 2 for a procedure. All were under 30 minutes. The 2 were Propofol done by an anesthesiologist. First 3 by an oral surgeon. The IV sedation does work in terms of you not feeling pain. I think they might still use local on you but you won’t know or feel it. But my only concern would be that you’ll need 14+ sessions and health and safety of doing frequent sedation over 2 hours each. Speak to the doctor about the safety and see what training and credentials he has for administering IV sedation. Each country has different standards of training for providers using anesthetics and I’d be a little more hesitant to go under IV so many times.

#8

I’ve never tried EMLA cream before. I will ask the doctor about this as an option. I’m not too worried about care and safety, since I do believe the doctor(s) there are good and I am actually being treated in a hospital.

I see no reason not to TRY the cream together with iced compresses; if it works, great, and if it is too much to tolerate then I’ll know.

Dee, I’ve posted pictures of the machine and probe in a previous thread. Someone said they are from Japan. I do find it very painful in an area that has not been numbed with lidocaine. If I can feel the probe enter the skin, then I know the sting will be very painful when she zaps it. It’s really murder, and no matter how much lidocaine they use there are always a goodly number of hairs outside the number areas that need to be zapped.

#9

That’s a good thing to try Emla cream. If you feel too much pain with it, you could come back with the injection

#10

Tell me about it. I’ve been getting electrolysis with lidocaine injections on the chest and stomach. Numb areas are great, but as soon as that one hair isn’t numb, wow. I personally found EMLA cream worthless. I know it’s touted here as wonderful, but I didn’t think it did much at all.

Honestly, if I had a doctor tell me they can basically drug me so I don’t feel a thing and felt relaxed, I’d do it ASAP. It’s not like you’re at some shitty hospital – I’m assuming you’re at Yanhee, which from my research, looks very legitimate and has a reputation for its cosmetic work. Unless you’re allergic to the drug cocktail, I don’t see much of a reason against doing it other than it might be overkill.

#11

I don’t agree. EMLA works. You’re probably not using it correctly. It has to be occluded and left on for the right amount of time. experiment. Tbh your electrologist should know what kind of time per area so as not to waste. As it takes time to work you might want to occlude before you get there. If your feeling insertions get a new electrologist. Unless you’re getting results and like pain.

#12

I find that prescription oral painkillers help a lot.

#13

I’m going to try EMLA (and ice compresses) next Tuesday. I hope it works!

#14

Follow the directions carefully for EMLA so you get full benefit. Good luck!

#15

Thanks Dee. They (the hospital) will give me the EMLA, so I assume they will do it as effectively as possible! If necessary I can always get some lidocaine shots. This will be mainly an experiment to see how it feels/goes.

#16

Good luck to you. Let us know how it goes, which ever way you decide to proceed. I’m sure there are people following your story that are curious.

#17

I find that oxycodone helps reduce the overall pain by about 40%

#18

Tomorrow will be three weeks since I did a first clearing on both lower arms.

I did not go for the sedation. Instead, I tried EMLA cream and lots of ice.

The EMLA cream was worthless, just as my doctor said it would be. Perhaps I wouldn’t have felt if a fly had landed on me, but an electrologist’s zap? Forget it.

This was a tough area. She iced me down so heavily that I almost couldn’t stand the freezing pain. It obviously penetrated into my nervous system. I actually watched my hands as my brain sent a message to curl my fingers into a fist, but the fingers moved so slowly with a time delay. It was like I was maneuvering a robot.

And still it hurt. But I tolerated it, about three hours worth.

And then several days later I noticed that my arms were numb (that is, the skin was somewhat numbed) and it took a LONG time for this to go away. Even now I’ve only got about 90% of the sensation back. Whether this is from the ice or the electrolysis, I don’t know.

But - I’ll go back in a few months and do it again. I just love the results.

#19

What was the strategy? To remove all visible hairs? The area had previously been touched? or are we talking about virgin hair?
Without knowing these data, it is difficult to draw conclusions.

When the density of hairs removed is very high and the strategy is to remove all visible hairs, inflammation is considerable. The nerve endings surrounding each affected follicle are a little “dazed”, so maybe your sensitivity on the skin surface will take a couple of weeks to return to normal. On the other hand, it is possible that for a couple of months some small bruises appear spontaneously (nothing to worry about, this side effect will also disappear). You may also feel a special pain if someone accidentally press your arm. This will also disappear.

#20

Josefa: yes I cleared (almost) all hairs from both arms. This was the first electrolysis on this area. Laser previously removed the black hairs, quite successfully. But there remains a lot of white hairs (more on the left arm than the right - ?).

I have had electrolysis on chest, stomach, back and neck multiple times, with an even higher hair density (at the beginning), but I never observed such a long period of numbness. It could be because of the ice. On the other areas, I had extensive lidocaine injections, but this time I did not.

I have never experienced scabbing or bruising. I do see raised red bumps that last about a week. It’s worst on the neck, where the redness and bumps are the most severe and last the longest. This time, on my arms, there was minimal redness or spots/bumps - gone in a few days. But the numbness went down VERY slowly, and I still have some on my left arm even now.