Electrolysis Scarring

Scarring from electrolysis has been mentioned in a precious thread. It seems that aggressive electrolysis and long sessions seem to lead to scarring. My scarring occurred when a new technician concentrated on my right upper lip. It took a long time to heal and left scars. During further sessions, I insisted that the technician skip around my entire face. I still have some scars from then. I have to shave the remaining hair 3 times per week, and i am wondering if further electrolysis is worth it.

Is there something that can done to reduce the scars?

which electro technique? there are some less damaging than others, e.g. heat+current, and then there are less capable technicians who make more scars, and then there are more susceptible skins (e.g. very dry skin). my electro persons are highly experienced, one is trans and knows the pain and skin issues. She goes allover and not in patches, precisely to reduce scarring potential. She also says long sessions induce more scarring.

As I said in another thread where scarring was discussed, I cannot tell if I have any scarring because of my sun and time aged facial skin. I have had some scabbing occasionally, almost rarely, which could be due to many factors, including occasional extra skin sensitivity due to what may have been happening in my body at that time and too high of a power setting. I strongly agree, especially after hearing about those few full face clearing sessions discussed in the other thread, that you let the technician work on the whole face and eventually neck instead of doing the patchwork approach and thus concentrating a lot of serious zapping in a small area. That is how my technician approached my facial hair removal. She did ask which I preferred and we decided on the full face approach.

Hi Anne, Only you can answer whether or not it's worth finishing. I would, and if I found some scarring I couldn't live with? Chem peels, micro- needling, laser ablation and or dermabrasion are readily available to remedy the problem. My facial hair was one of dysphoric triggers that needed to get addressed. I will take the scarring over the hair and as I pointed to in a previous thread, I may eventually seek some resolve by one of the mechanical or chemical means I had noted. My reality told me that women don't generally shave, not the model I was trying to emulate anyways. So I had to see it through. So be careful with your selection of techs if you choose to carry on. Many will tell you bleeding and scabbing are normal and they simply aren't. Even without clearings, those are both indications of dermis and epidermal damage and very likely, future scarring. ☹Good luck! Jessica

I completed electrolysis almost four decades ago. I never had any scarring. Maybe being in my twenties was a factor? I don't know. I do know that bleeding and scabs are not part of the deal. Lasting damage to the skin has got to be a result of operator error. Redness, tenderness and maybe puffiness are all that should be experienced. Taking an NSAID before and an ice pack after will help. It is also a good idea to be well hydrated at the time of treatment. Of course, I am not a doctor but there is usually one in the house here. Maybe she will wade in.

Electrolysis after starting HRT is asking for issues. Hormones make facial skin thinner, more delicate and susceptible to injury in many people.

I sleep through large chunks of about half my sessions, so I can only assume that my electrologist is using a conservative technique. I am still only a few hours in (16, maybe) but have had a couple of 4 hour sessions in there. No hint of scarring and only my very first session (on the most dense area of my face) produced a few small pustules, which resolved quickly. Ice and natural remedies are the only after care I've needed.

As someone that had scarring... I guess I'm kind of the one that brought it up... I attribute it to a few things.

1. Mass clearing I think is too much on the skin.
2. Older equipment - my current electrologist has a state of the art machine - she was quite proud of it and she explained to me the technical reasons it is easier on the skin - basically lower levels of power to get the same kill rate.
3. I had an allergic reaction to the neosporin that Belle suggested I use. Not really her fault although my doctor told me that 10% of people are allergic to it. I wish Belle had known that fact but again not really her fault ( too much )

So those are my 3 cents. lol

Personal experience and what I was told by the person doing the electrolysis (who also does patients for the Dermatolgy Department at the medical school and has taught laser and electrolysis), is that scarring is not likely to happen. She allows at least two weeks between treating in the same area. But she will not treat any patients prone to keloid formation. (Keloids are scars that are considerably enlarged.)

Kelly, I want some of what you have to sleep through this!

Came back to add that information by Jeri Ann about hydration important. Makes the procedure work better.

Thanks for all the opinions. Pamela mentioned "heat + current". Does this mean there is a heat technique and a different current technique? Also, the technicians seem to have to tug the hairs out, but in videos i have watched, the hairs seemed to glide out. Any comments?

from my practitioners, there is electric-only, or electric+heat, which makes it easier to get the hairs out, and less painful - having said that, the pain for me has been awful anyway, i seem to be super-sensitive, but no scarring, just redness which goes in a few hours - use frozen peas, aloe vera cream after.
i've not noticed tugging out myself, more like they're pulled-glided.

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Originally Posted by Anne K

Thanks for all the opinions. Pamela mentioned "heat + current". Does this mean there is a heat technique and a different current technique? Also, the technicians seem to have to tug the hairs out, but in videos i have watched, the hairs seemed to glide out. Any comments?

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Anne,

As for how hairs come out, ask your technician to explain. I will tell you what I remember what my very experienced technician told me. First there are many growth cycles for hairs. To kill each hair may require multiple treatments for each hair follicle (where the hair grows from - they are trying to kill the follicle so that it will not grow any more hairs). Once a hair is treated my electrologist would sometimes tell me that the hair was like a dry knot, an older hair that sometimes seems to pop out of the follicle needing a stronger pull because of a small bulb (knot) at the end. That hair will need to be treated again. Another time she will pull out a hair smoothly with no tugging, probably just like the videos you watched. Sometimes she will explain happily that we have a new hair. A new hair many times pulls out smoothly and sometimes needs a little more effort to pull out without a pop. It also will have some type of root sheath or covering on the end which is a light white soft covering that is around new hairs. Those are the hairs that usually do not need multiple treatments. You get more first time kills of new hair in the growth cycle.

For a lot of good information here on this site based on us electrology veterans please go back to some of the older threads using the search function where this is discussed. For someone starting out it will be well worth the effort finding and then reading some of those older and much longer threads. They also discuss in a lot of detail the different equipment, techniques and give details on laser treatment. Good luck and I hope this helps.

Yes all hairs even on the same face are not equal. My tech said she pulled one out of me that looked like an upside down palm tree, some sort of mutant hair, oh my!

Anne - I don't recall the manufacturer of the machine my tech uses and I am on a break right now for financial reasons but I do recall her mentioning something regarding setting the machine for different types of currents.

I guess bottom line is ask a lot of questions just as you would buying anything. This is going to cost thousand and thousands of dollars. Make sure that you are satisfied of 3 things.

They are cool with you being transgender.
They know what they are doing.
They have equipment that is not from the invention of electricity.

If you are scarring after electrolysis, you need another technician - no ifs, ands, or buts.

good point, i only scarred after the mass clearing, never since with my new tech and one hour treatments.

Thanks for all the advice!

I have been doing electro since mid July. I have had my whole face cleared maybe 2-3 times during period. The first took about 20 hours total. Only one session was 1 hour, all the rest were multi hour. In only one small location, my adam's apple, did I experience any scabbing. Not one scar so far. The last time I went? 5.5 hours, with two techs working together. It almost cleared my whole face, she said maybe another 1-2 hours would have done it all. No scabs at all. So, it's not marathon sessions that cause it, nor spreading out the zapping either, it is purely skill and equipment. My electrologist has about 40 years of experience, much of it with the trans community. I've worked with 3 other people at her office and none caused scarring. Seriously if you are experiencing scarring it is not worth it. It may be your skin or your electrologist, but it is not caused by what much of you are saying - it is simply too much heat. With the one time on my adam's apple, she told me that several hair pores were super close together and at weird angles to each other, so that one area got overheated. It was about 1-2 millimeters in diameter, it went away, and has not happened since. My personal vote is an electrologist who scars sucks at their job. It's easy to do, but hard to do well.

Done right by someone with experience there should be no scarring as setting are adjustable to accommodate different skin types, I have over 300 hours over the last 5 years, having mostly a white beard laser was not an option.

Nadine, You very well maybe be right. Just sharing my personal experience. That's the thing about a group chat, listen to what everyone says, sort through it and come to your own conclusion.

I do think it is very important to have confidence in your electrologist and their methods. If it doesn't feel right for any reason then move on. That's what I did.

The corners of the upper lip can be perilous. If you don't have total confidence in your practitioner, have them thin out the upper lip 5-10 times to get the hair count down before doing full clearances on it; might be a good idea to thin out areas all over the face if you have a lack of confidence in them. Better to find someone else, but if there is only one electrologist in one's area, at least have them move around. Image a circle on the skin around each hair where it exits the follicle (it isn't a perfect analogy since there are really 3 dimensions but you get the basic idea.) The better the electrologist is, and the better equipment they use, the smaller the "energy circle" will be. When the circles overlap (especially when 3 circles overlap) scarring can occur. If they can't do initial full clearances without this overlapping, they should move around thin out the hair first and don't do adjacent follicles that are too close to each other.

Be sure to follow your electrologist's aftercare instructions to help prevent possible scarring. If they don't give you instructions, ask for them.