These pictures are probably earlier in this thread but I am too lazy to go back and look...

So, this is the picture after day 1 of the first session. You can see 3 interesting things, I think:

1. They clear A LOT of face per day
2. I had A LOT of hair. You can see how shaggy the bottom half is
3. If you look closely at the point of the chin, you can see that the skin is oozing a bit
The recovery after the first time was a bit rough. There was a fair amount of oozing that turned into little crusties on my neck and chin. After the first time, I could not have gone to work to be in front of customers in the first week. even two weeks was right on edge. Note that to be in front of customers, I require a fair amount of makeup. If I hadn't had some work flexibility, it would have been a tough situation. Had I still be in guy-mode, I could have made excuses like a bad sunburn, and nobody would have questioned it.
Here is the picture after the second day:

I was pretty swollen. I iced it, and kept lotion on it, and it went down pretty quickly. The swelling was not the issue for getting back in front of people. It was the crusting on my chin and neck.
I was not a fan of Dr. Z. It took a while for my face to recover. And on some thread here I wondered aloud whether I would go back. But I figured I didn't have many choices.
And I was VERY happy I went back. After the first time, things were much easier. I think they dialed things back a bit. After the second time, I did go back to work after a week. After the third session, I was back to work, in front of customers 2 days after treatment. I was mildly swollen, but being sort of chubby-faced, no one said a thing.
As everyone here will tell you, get the facial hair done ASAP. Even if transition is not in the current plan, get the hair done ASAP. Note that even with large volume electrolysis, it still takes a year. PHR wants 10 weeks between sessions, and it takes 4 to 6 sessions to get to mostly done. That said, even though it takes a year to get mostly done, after the second session everything about my facial hair was easy. It was easy to shave. It remained smooth all day. And was almost manageable. After the third session, it was pretty fabulous. So, even though you aren't mostly done, even partly done is WAY better than barely started.
Jump in. Get started. The longer you wait, the longer it will take...

Katie