Genital electrolysis for SRS

[mistyjensen]

Hello,

On April 1st, I had an informative vaginoplasty consultation at Mount Sinai in NYC with Dr. Jess Ting, who recently trained and performed his first vaginoplasty under Dr. Bowers. While examining me, Dr. Ting was astonished that I don't have a lot of hair down there. (I've never had genital electrolysis before.) Moreover, I seldom shave and trim because I have very sensitive skin and develop red bumps, after shaving. I'm surprised that Dr. Ting said I only need one session of electrolysis before GRS. Has anyone else had a surgeon recommend only one electrolysis session for GRS? Dr Ting's recommendation of one electrolysis session in my case is somewhat comforting as I'm worried about getting electrolysis because I have a low pain threshold. That said, having vaginoplasty is a very important life enriching procedure for me. I hope that I can acclimate myself to the pain of electrolysis. I will be getting the electrolysis done at Mount Sinai.

Sincerely,

Caitlyn

[Serenation]

Hi, hair follicles can take up to 4 clears before they are permanently gone. Are they going to do follicle scraping during srs?

This is something you really want to get right. It's pretty much a certainty that hair will grow back after one session.

[Dena]

Electrolysis will not kill all of the hair the first time. Figure as many clearings as possible but a clearing could be as small as 15 minutes to half an hour. This is something you want done right the first time because there are no redo's. My face was cleared that way and I still have between 10 and 15 hairs that escaped destruction after much intensive treatment. That number is livable but more might not be.

[mistyjensen]

Electrolysis will not kill all of the hair the first time. Figure as many clearings as possible but a clearing could be as small as 15 minutes to half an hour. This is something you want done right the first time because there are no redo's. My face was cleared that way and I still have between 10 and 15 hairs that escaped destruction after much intensive treatment. That number is livable but more might not be.

Hi Dena,

Thank you for the helpful info.

Sincerely,

Caitlyn

[mistyjensen]

Hi, hair follicles can take up to 4 clears before they are permanently gone. Are they going to do follicle scraping during srs?

This is something you really want to get right. It's pretty much a certainty that hair will grow back after one session.

Hi Serenation,

You raise a good question, which I didn't ask Dr. Ting, when I saw him. I will raise the question with him in an email or when I see him next. I assume that there will be some degree of follicle scrapping during the vaginoplasty. But it will be helpful for me to find out before the surgery.

Sincerely,

Caitlyn

[karenpayneoregon]

Hi,

When I prepared for surgery the recommendation was five cycles of electrolysis. A cycle is generally 4 to six weeks so it take time to get rid of most hairs. At time of surgery, remaining hairs are zapped and scraped but as I was told this does not take into consideration any dormant hair. I did five months of treatment and was told by the person performing hair removal I was good to go. I would take time every month after surgery to see if there was any growth just outside of the area and found none yet one can never be totally sure if there is any new growth inside.

For pain, common practice is to use liberally a mixture of Lidocaine and Prilocaine or an alternative (found this out by a skin specialist) that Aspercreme is sufficient to relive pain. For either, place the ointment on the area to be treated roughly 45 minutes before hand and wrap things up with cellophane which can be tricky the first few times.

[mistyjensen]

Hi,

When I prepared for surgery the recommendation was five cycles of electrolysis. A cycle is generally 4 to six weeks so it take time to get rid of most hairs. At time of surgery, remaining hairs are zapped and scraped but as I was told this does not take into consideration any dormant hair. I did five months of treatment and was told by the person performing hair removal I was good to go. I would take time every month after surgery to see if there was any growth just outside of the area and found none yet one can never be totally sure if there is any new growth inside.

For pain, common practice is to use liberally a mixture of Lidocaine and Prilocaine or an alternative (found this out by a skin specialist) that Aspercreme is sufficient to relive pain. For either, place the ointment on the area to be treated roughly 45 minutes before hand and wrap things up with cellophane which can be tricky the first few times.

Wow, that's very useful info.

Dr. Ting said that he will try to get me in for surgery in June. That said, I don't know how I will be able to fit in multiple electrolysis sessions before June. I understand that it will take several electrolysis sessions to clear the area. Bearing that in mind, I'm surprised that Dr. Ting told me that I only need one electrolysis session.

Sincerely,

Caitlyn

[Rachel]

I too have very little hair there. I have had 3 of 6 clearings to date. The will do follicle scrapping at my GCS but do the clearings too. The 1st 3 clearings were scheduled for 4 hours each. They needed 1.75 hours, 1.5 and 1.25 hours for the clearings so far.

I go to Papillion and they administer a local. There is 5 minutes of pain when the local is administered and then I am numb.   

The machine is turned up high and there is scabs and red and blue dots when they are done. I have had dots of blood on my panties after. They have me shave 10 days before the clearing and not the 5 because my hair is fine.

[AnonyMs]

I'd be quite concerned he said only one session. I'm not very trusting, and its hard to see how it could be correct. Its not his problem if you get hair afterwards, its yours. Why would he say such a thing?

Suporn's one of the surgeons who says you don't need it, but even so there are occasional reports of vaginal hair with him. It's apparently quite shallow, so presumably easy to remove. I believe they recommend not to have electrolysis there s it damages the skin, and if you do your supposed to leave a year gap between the end of electrolysis and SRS (I may be wrong on that, it was a while ago I read it). They also have a picture of where to get it done, as its not necessary everywhere, but I'd assume if the same hospital is doing it as the surgeon they know what to do.

With any luck you'll be able to get some decent painkillers at the hospital for electrolysis. Most places can't do it as they are not doctors.

There was a post recently about hair

Hair inside the vagina and scars outside vagina
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php?topic=203188

[zirconia]

While skilled electrologist can kill just about each follicle that has a visible hair with a single treatment, some follicles that are in the telogen (resting) stage will have no hair and accordingly be invisible. When these untreated follicles enter the anagen (active growth) stage new hairs will appear. The length of the anagen-catagen-telogen cycle and the percentage of follicles in each stage depends on the type/location of hair and the individual. Thus, I would also find it rather unusual for all hair to be eliminated in a single session.

It really might be prudent to discuss this again with your doctor, if only to ensure that there is no misunderstanding.

[AnonyMs]

It really might be prudent to discuss this again with your doctor, if only to ensure that there is no misunderstanding.

I'm a bit (lot) cynical, so I tend to think the doctor understands quite well. They get paid, and you take the risk.

[Ms Grace]

Speaking from my own experience, galvanic electrolysis is more effective than thermalising electro, it does kill the follicle on the first treatment. Only ever had one pass for my beard. Mind you, you need a skilled electrolysist. Even so, if a follicle is dormant at time of treatment it will be missed.

[warlockmaker]

My pet peeve - genital electrolysis. The only way to ensure that hair does not grow in your vagina is to have the hair follicles scraped clear by experienced technicians in the operating theatre. It's time consuming and costly in Western countries.and they lack exprienced technicians. In Thailand they have perfected this procudure which makes scrotal skin great for the vagina and changed the penile inversion technique to what it is today .Thus, they do not require electrolysis.

Anyone who has had hair removal by electrolysis or laser will conform that they do not have 100 percent results. In fact electrolysis reduces the hair follicle size and makes the hair follicle scraping more difficult to clear and you run the risk of hair growing in your vagina.


I have asked friends to challenge their surgeons on the need for genetialia electrolysis and their surgeons have all backed down on its requirement.

It's barbaric and I consider it a measurement on the surgeons capability and his state of art of his procedure.

[Katie]

I picked a doctor that did not require this draconian hair removal in the private area.

[Jenna Marie]

I will also note that not only does Brassard not require electrolysis, he recommends *against* it unless there can be at least one year allowed to pass after the last session, before GRS.  Electro weakens the hair follicles and makes his scraping technique much less effective. So if the surgeon insists only one session is sufficient, I would also double-check that he's not planning to do the scraping method.

(I went to Brassard, no electro, no hair growth, unless you count one tiny irritating hair that curls in from the outer labia to poke me in the vaginal opening from time to time.)

[CrysC]

Dr Bowers recommends 5 sessions of electrolysis or 3 sessions of laser hair removal and for it to have been completed at least 3 weeks before surgery.  She also does follicle scraping. 

On my face and body I have had both laser and electrolysis.  The laser is permanent for those that doubt it.  The electrolysis takes more treatments to be effective and overall causes more pain, because it is so much slower.  If you can go laser, I encourage you to go that route.

In prep for my procedure much later this year I've had 3 sessions of laser already.  I may have one more as I needed her to do it at reduced power.  I squeaked too much.  I figure I should err on the side of reduced hairs.   

Also, it won't work on my glitter (er, very light, perhaps you could even say white, hairs) but there isn't a lot of that down there.  For that I needed the needle. 

Good luck Caitlyn!

[mistyjensen]

Last Friday, I had my first electrolysis session with Yuki Arai at Mount Sinai in NYC. The session was not as challenging as I feared. A huge of amount of credit goes to Yuki for helping me get through the session. She did a great job adjusting the settings of the electrolysis to accommodate my pain tolerance and omfort level. I highly recommend Yuki for electrolysis.

[AnonyMs]

I thought it was supposed to be really painful. Did you have any painkillers?

I'm also curious, how long did it take?

[mistyjensen]

I thought it was supposed to be really painful. Did you have any painkillers?

I'm also curious, how long did it take?

Hi,

Electrolysis can be painful. Yes, I received painkillers. I had about 5 local anesthesia injections the day before the electrolysis session because my surgeon was not going to be available the next day. I also applied numbing cream. By the time of the electrolysis session, I wasn't feeling as numb as I did approximately 24 hours before. Yuki did the electrolysis at the 2/3 setting. The session lasted approximately an hour. Next session – I will have the local anesthesia injections administered by the surgeon on the same day as the electrolysis. Plus, I will have numbing cream applied. That way, the electrolysis will be almost painless.

Sincerely,

Cait

[Massi]

Hi,

Electrolysis can be painful. Yes, I received painkillers. I had about 5 local anesthesia injections the day before the electrolysis session because my surgeon was not going to be available the next day. I also applied numbing cream. By the time of the electrolysis session, I wasn't feeling as numb as I did approximately 24 hours before. Yuki did the electrolysis at the 2/3 setting. The session lasted approximately an hour. Next session – I will have the local anesthesia injections administered by the surgeon on the same day as the electrolysis. Plus, I will have numbing cream applied. That way, the electrolysis will be almost painless.

Sincerely,

Cait

Hey again Cait! I'm currently waiting for a consult sometime in July with Dr. Ting, but in the meantime I figured I should probably start genital electrolysis now rather than wait for the consult. You'd suggest going with Yuki Arai at Mount Sinai? Do you know how I could get in touch with her? And last question, sorry for the barrage, are you getting the electrolysis covered by your Medicaid? As I understand it Medicaid is supposed to cover the cost of genital electrolysis but I don't know how to make that happen.