Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Community Conversation => Transsexual talk => Male to female transsexual talk (MTF) => Topic started by: alice10 on January 20, 2013, 03:28:38 PM

Title: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: alice10 on January 20, 2013, 03:28:38 PM
So I have read a lot of things about this but I would like to know exactly where you need it for SRS? a diagram of it would be nice.  I am probably going to have SRS with Dr Chettawut. He recommends you have at least the perineum area done. It is the short stretch of skin between the anus and the posterior part of the scrotum.

What I want out of SRS:

I don't care if there is hair above my vagina but I don't want it below it, inside it or along the sides of it.


Any help would be awesome. Thank you so much
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: MaidofOrleans on January 20, 2013, 04:11:57 PM
Not looking forward to this...
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: JennX on January 20, 2013, 04:21:41 PM
Here's a pic on Dr. Marci Bowers' website: http://www.marcibowers.com/grs/removehair.jpg (http://www.marcibowers.com/grs/removehair.jpg)

Most surgeons will provide a pic/sketch/etc in advance. I'm just finishing up mine, and it is very painful. I have a very high pain tolerance and it will make me twitch every now and then which is saying something. My electrologist said most of the MTF patients she's had for genital electro stop coming back after the first or second treatment. Can't say I blame them either.

Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: alice10 on January 20, 2013, 04:29:46 PM
How many sessions did you have, how much did it cost, and what did you have cleared?

Quote from: TessaM on January 20, 2013, 04:12:54 PM
I went to E3000 in Texas.


Yeah I am not looking forward to the pain. I know it will suck. So I pretty much need it everywhere except for above the penis?
Quote from: JennX on January 20, 2013, 04:21:41 PM
Here's a pic on Dr. Marci Bowers' website: http://www.marcibowers.com/grs/removehair.jpg (http://www.marcibowers.com/grs/removehair.jpg)

Most surgeons will provide a pic/sketch/etc in advance. I'm just finishing up mine, and it is very painful. I have a very high pain tolerance and it will make me twitch every now and then which is saying something. My electrologist said most of the MTF patients she's had for genital electro stop coming back after the first or second treatment. Can't say I blame them either.


Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: MaidofOrleans on January 20, 2013, 05:22:43 PM
Think i'm gonna go for the laser.

Its been working well so far on my face.
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: alice10 on January 20, 2013, 05:29:03 PM
Yeah your face looks really good. I wish I could. My hair used to be black but since hormones all my hair is going blonde down south
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: MaidofOrleans on January 20, 2013, 05:31:48 PM
Quote from: alice10 on January 20, 2013, 05:29:03 PM
Yeah your face looks really good. I wish I could. My hair used to be black but since hormones all my hair is going blonde down south

Mine is still think and dark, maybe I should get a head start?
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: Emily Aster on January 20, 2013, 05:48:10 PM
This hurts me just reading it. I thought I was getting out of genital electrolysis. Guess not :(
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: alice10 on January 20, 2013, 05:55:43 PM
It's up to you. Knowing SRS is in my near future I am probably going to start doing it
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: alice10 on January 20, 2013, 06:04:40 PM
Lmao that would suck. Wow that's cheap. I hate needles lol. Has any hair come back?
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: alice10 on January 20, 2013, 06:11:02 PM
Oh ok. When's your SRS? Keep us posted
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: alice10 on January 20, 2013, 06:19:18 PM
Awesome! I hope everything goes great!
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: MaidofOrleans on January 20, 2013, 09:02:47 PM
Quote from: TessaM on January 20, 2013, 06:16:35 PM
I literally got an email from Brossards office like 5 hours ago saying the Quebec gov accepted my request for funding SO... I can have my srs as soon as April 31st! I would still be in school then tho so I messaged her back saying that I would need something after May 20th.

Anyways, that will be for another thread. Yay! (PS I hope my SRS and last electrolysis session arent too close. I would hate regrowth especially after I went out of my way to prevent such an occurence!)

Gratz girl! I still got a ways to go :(
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: alice10 on January 20, 2013, 09:04:32 PM
We will all get there someday =)
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: Ms.Behavin on January 20, 2013, 09:51:10 PM
Ah the things we talk about.  Mine worked out to about 10 hours of shear delight.  Well not at all delightful really.  Makes that upper lip electro seem like child's play.    Get some numbing spray used for first aid / burns.  It helps some.  Maybe enough...  The good news is SRS will overall hurt way less..
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: Zumbagirl on January 21, 2013, 04:40:36 AM
This was one part of my transition that I didn't skimp on. Does the surgeon scrape the skin? Yes. What about the places they don't scrape? There is still going to be hair. My electrologist who did my genital electro also worked on some post ops who had hair problems after surgery. It is very easy to treat the hairs pre-op and extremely difficult and painful to do it post-op. this is why I sought out an expert who works with trans women having surgery. Anyone is free to do whatever they want but I would have never taken the chance of hair regrowth in the vulva area once I was healed.
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: LilDevilOfPrada on January 21, 2013, 06:13:54 AM
Quote from: JennX on January 20, 2013, 04:21:41 PM
Here's a pic on Dr. Marci Bowers' website: http://www.marcibowers.com/grs/removehair.jpg (http://www.marcibowers.com/grs/removehair.jpg)

Most surgeons will provide a pic/sketch/etc in advance. I'm just finishing up mine, and it is very painful. I have a very high pain tolerance and it will make me twitch every now and then which is saying something. My electrologist said most of the MTF patients she's had for genital electro stop coming back after the first or second treatment. Can't say I blame them either.

Thats interesting that laser is suggested! I think I would rather do that seeming I have black hair. Less pain is always better.
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: kae m on January 21, 2013, 07:28:51 AM
Quote from: TessaM on January 20, 2013, 04:12:54 PM
...in Philadelphia there is an srs surgeon who also had an electrologist work with her. She will know what to do.
Do you mean the one that works with Dr McGinn? I would be curious to hear from anyone here who has gone to her. It's a ~3.5 hour drive, but it's way more accessible for me than Dallas and I haven't found anyone local (CT) who can do it with a local anesthetic. My pain tolerance is pretty high overall, I just don't know if I can deal with the combination of the pain and the emotional crap of being splayed out in front of someone like that.
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: JennX on January 21, 2013, 08:27:42 AM
Quote from: LilDevilOfPrada on January 21, 2013, 06:13:54 AM
Thats interesting that laser is suggested! I think I would rather do that seeming I have black hair. Less pain is always better.

Unfortunately the results are not the same. I've had 6 laser sessions on my entire bikini area... and there was still plenty of hair. Which is why I followed it with electro. Laser alone rarely, if ever, will totally remove male hair permanently.
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: Assoluta on January 22, 2013, 03:00:31 PM
I wouldn't recommend laser for genital electro, because laser only gives permanent reduction, not permanent removal, and you don't want ingrown hairs later on, even if it's just the worry that they may appear. It's tough, but it has to be done if the surgeon requires it (not all do, and it varies by case). I know, because while I got away from having to get facial electrolysis, I had to spend two agonising years having genital electro as the surgeon would not operate unless I'd had it done.

You can use EMLA cream to take the edge off the pain but it's effectiveness is patchy, sometimes, it completely numbs it, sometimes it's not effective at all. If possible, having the injection is better because there is no pain and the electrologist can work more efficiently, but as others have said, the actual injection itself is no fun, but it's what I had towards the end of my treatment because it was taking so long.
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: AlexisB on January 22, 2013, 03:13:43 PM
Would the pain not be excruciatingly unbearable?
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: Assoluta on January 22, 2013, 03:54:18 PM
Quote from: AlexisB on January 22, 2013, 03:13:43 PM
Would the pain not be excruciatingly unbearable?

It is bad, but not as ridiculously bad as you may imagine. The EMLA cream does take a fair bit of edge off the pain, although it isn't 100% effective. Surprisingly the scrotal area, which I thought would be the most painful isn't that bad, it's the penile shaft and perineum where it really caned. If I was to quantify it, I'd say it was a bit more painful than a blood test when done by a trainee nurse who gets it a bit wrong and it hurts more than it should - but in areas where the EMLA cream works, sometimes it's almost nothing. My sessions also varied - sometimes I could last 45 minutes to an hour, but others, 20 minutes was enough. People vary too - some people didn't even need the EMLA cream and coped better than me, but my electrologist also mentioned a patient who couldn't even take one zap without it being too much.

However what helped me to cope was knowing the pain was short lived - after the two zaps, that's it, the pain doesn't linger, it's just short bursts of it.

After having the surgery I can say the pain was worth it and more.
Title: Re: Electrolysis for SRS, help please
Post by: AlexisB on January 23, 2013, 11:46:06 AM
O okay thanks :)