Electrolysis Damage

[Jill F]

I've tried pretty much everything now.  It's multi-probe galvanic or nothing for me now.

I had flash thermo done by a hack once.  She got a lot of them, but my face looked like hamburger for months afterward.  Never again.

Laser was good to get me going full time early on, but there really was a lot of regrowth.  I don't see me going back for more.

[Evelyn K]

Hey Jill whoah I see you movin up around these parts!

BTW how many hairs would you say your technician is successfully pulling an hour using multiprobe? Do you know if the pain is less intense than thermolysis?

As for the hack I think I have one myself. My technician doesn't even pull the hair from the follicle, she says, "once it's zapped it's dead the hair will fall out later."

After 2 weeks of recovering from the scab over, - they did not fall out. They just look thinner. What a waste.

Time to find a new place.

[Jill F]

Hey Jill whoah I see you movin up around these parts!

BTW how many hairs would you say your technician is successfully pulling an hour using multiprobe? Do you know if the pain is less intense than thermolysis?

As for the hack I think I have one myself. My technician doesn't even pull the hair from the follicle, she says, "once it's zapped it's dead the hair will fall out later."

After 2 weeks of recovering from the scab over, - they did not fall out. They just look thinner. What a waste.

Time to find a new place.

It's time to run away screaming.  If you don't pull the dead hair, you risk an abscess.  I currently typically get about 175 hairs yanked per hour.  (Sorry for the bad electro pun.)

[Cindy]

Sounds like I've had a few blow outs then. She used thermolysis, not galvanic.

I'm doing laser now. I see some small pits from previous electrolysis but it is noticeable only if you look closely.

BTW, has anyone here experienced truly permanent hair elimination from laser treatments even after years on out?

3 years so far!

[Evelyn K]

I wonder what method is being used here. The hair just slides right out and there is no swelling or reddening.

[Evelyn K]

Wow so I just learned depending on the type of probes used will mitigate the pain and hair removal efficiency. Cheaper probes are not insulated and will hurt like hell because it's applying charge to the entire follicle and damaging surrounding tissue needlessly, other probes are insulted and domed and some are flexible with only the bare tip applying charge deep into the dermal papillae only.

Example
http://www.laurierinstruments.com/index.html

Then there's a high-end place in NYC that is expensive as heck but they guarantee painless and scheduled complete electrolysis hair removal with their patented "LP" system. Get ready to spend $10K! 

[Pandora]

Thank you everyone for all the input. Hair removal is a b***h .

I have been wondering if I should be switching from Thermolysis to the Blend approach in order to reduce the possibility of further damage. However, I wasn't sure if the blend was any safer in that respect. Does anyone have a good a view on this after trying both methods?

The funny thing about laser is that I started with IPL before electrolysis when I had about 50/50 dark and grey hairs. This was with the electrologist who subsequently damaged my face. Although there may have been some reduction (or dark hairs turning grey!) most of the dark hairs returned after a few months. Which is why I switched to electrolysis thinking laser was a crock. After all the damage from this I had laser rejuvenation with VPL at a different clinic to try and fix the problem plus a few hours of ruby laser. The treatment didn't fix the damage but cleared all the remaining dark hairs! How ironic! 4 Years later and the regrowth is minimal (so far). So it just goes to show that different types of laser and the skill of the practitioner is just as much a factor as for electrolysis. Also, it is a very inexact science. Wish now I'd tried different types of laser treatment first before giving up and going for the electrolysis.

Overall, it sounds like a deep peel may be of benefit in repairing some of the wrinkle damage. Does anyone else out there have experience with this, other types of peel, or laser abrasion?

Hugs, Pandora

[ImagineKate]

BTW, has anyone here experienced truly permanent hair elimination from laser treatments even after years on out?

Here is the thing though. Laser is supposedly photo thermolysis. The electrologist I go to for electrolysis uses thermolysis with a probe and RF. So one is done with light and one is done with radio waves. They both supposedly destroy the follicle. Why would one be permanent and not the other?

[herekitten]

Can a person still get 'blowouts' even from galvanic electrolysis? 

[Beth Andrea]

I had laser done to the beard/neck area 13 times...after two years, there's still heavy reduction of the dark hairs (which is what causes "shadow", I believe). I'd say about 20% is still there, mostly greys. I can go for 2-3 days without shaving and not have visible stubble.

I've also had 6 Brazilian sessions in the same time frame (~2+ years ago) all dark hairs down there, and about half the population is still gone.

Just fyi, my experiences.

[Evelyn K]

Thank you everyone for all the input. Hair removal is a b***h .

I have been wondering if I should be switching from Thermolysis to the Blend approach in order to reduce the possibility of further damage. However, I wasn't sure if the blend was any safer in that respect. Does anyone have a good a view on this after trying both methods?

The funny thing about laser is that I started with IPL before electrolysis when I had about 50/50 dark and grey hairs. This was with the electrologist who subsequently damaged my face. Although there may have been some reduction (or dark hairs turning grey!) most of the dark hairs returned after a few months. Which is why I switched to electrolysis thinking laser was a crock. After all the damage from this I had laser rejuvenation with VPL at a different clinic to try and fix the problem plus a few hours of ruby laser. The treatment didn't fix the damage but cleared all the remaining dark hairs! How ironic! 4 Years later and the regrowth is minimal (so far). So it just goes to show that different types of laser and the skill of the practitioner is just as much a factor as for electrolysis. Also, it is a very inexact science. Wish now I'd tried different types of laser treatment first before giving up and going for the electrolysis.

Overall, it sounds like a deep peel may be of benefit in repairing some of the wrinkle damage. Does anyone else out there have experience with this, other types of peel, or laser abrasion?

Hugs, Pandora

Can try reading what this electrologist recommends.

http://hairzapper.com/blend/

"Blend is complex for operators to use and all too often, this process is badly set up and skin damage is often the result. The primary difficulty is the determination of how much thermolysis produces coagulation and not desiccation."

[Evelyn K]

Here is the thing though. Laser is supposedly photo thermolysis. The electrologist I go to for electrolysis uses thermolysis with a probe and RF. So one is done with light and one is done with radio waves. They both supposedly destroy the follicle. Why would one be permanent and not the other?

Here's one electrologists explanation on laser and its problems. For what it's worth.

http://hairzapper.com/laser/

"Depth of treated hair might also play a role, Dr. Willey says. In this regard, she says light sources may not penetrate sufficiently to adequately injure deeply growing anagen hairs in some areas. However, the study data didn't prove or disprove this hypothesis, she notes.

Dr. Willey adds that in the review, terminal hair growth occurred most frequently in the low maxillary or "beard" area, as well as the neck, lateral cheeks and chin areas."

"Generally what happens (as with most flash thermolysis, too) is that the hair is simply bombed back to the stone age, but it will one day rebuild and return. Lately, judging by the work that is turning up for me, it seems that it takes about 2 years for the hairs to re-appear. The funny thing...well, not so funny after all...is that it seems that laser resets nearly ALL the hair to "zero" where it remains dormant. Judging by three noticeable cases that I have worked on, it then makes its re-appearance all at once."

[ImagineKate]

Thanks.

However I would take what an electrologist says about laser with a grain of salt as it cuts into their business.

One thing that has me suspicious is that they report about the incident where a black woman had her face burned from laser. While it is true that laser can burn a dark skinned person's face, this is why there are now advanced lasers like the Nd:YAG which is designed specifically for dark skin types. I had one treatment with the YAG and I'm going for another today. It was actually quite good. That said I may still need electrolysis when all is said and done.

As for hair being bombed back to the stone age, well, wouldn't that be desirable for us? I mean, if we are left with peach fuzz isn't that a desirable result?

[Evelyn K]

^^ Yeah I get that too her "techy-science" could be biased.

I'm really here now because I'm pissed off about a recent electro session under my palate that took three weeks to heal from over treatment. Luckily I'm OK. This thread is right on time.

And there's this word from her about what it really takes for any schmuck to setup shop for hair removal which for the most part isn't surprising.

http://hairzapper.com/laser/#training

Finding a competent technician is going to be hard and undoubtedly much more expensive since the better and painless treatments are patented I.E. LP System mentioned above.

[ImagineKate]

I think that no matter how competent the tech is that there will be some pitting with flash thermolysis. I don't believe galvanic has this issue.

[Evelyn K]

^^ Or something different altogether

http://www.lucypeters.com/our-services/the-lucy-peters-system/

But it is really expensive.

[Evelyn K]

BTW I don't wanna derail this thread but check this out.



That's a lot of quick pulses coming out of this laser machine. I'm kinna jellus!

Hype?

[ImagineKate]

Looks like a diode laser with a sapphire cooling tip.

[herekitten]

Thank you ladies.  Your conversation thread was the little kick in the buttinski to get my stray hairs removed permanently.  I go for electrolysis on Monday evening.   Never ever having to lift that tweezer to my face no more -- ahhh what a relief!   I just hope I don't get a blowout thing you all mentioned. I did mention it to her and she said when people that happens its due to inexperience.  I'll cry if she blows me out.

[Jill F]

Oh, and something else I've noticed- if your electrologist is normally booked up and hard to get an appointment with, that's a good sign.

If they normally ask, "When's good for you?", not so good.

Also, check Yelp reviews.