Last week, I had my third laser session on my face.  Apparently six is the normal number of sessions.  Each session, the Marquise de Sade laser technician cranks up the strength a little bit.  This latest session, was extremely painful on my upper lip, even with plenty of lidocaine beforehand.

I am a bit concerned that, one week later, my lip is not back to normal.  It was quite swollen for a couple of days.  Although the swelling has gone down, it does not feel like it is back to normal.  If I press on it, there are still sore spots.

I am just wondering if that is normal.  The first couple of sessions, my face was fine within 24-36 hours.

I am thinking of asking her to not increase the strength further even if that is normal protocol.  I don't think I can stand a stronger zap.

KathyLauren
My Doc prescribed an ointment consisting of 2.5 % lidocaine and 2.5% Prilocaine. I put it on 2 hours ahead of time and cover it with saran wrap. I hope to heck it works because like you I would rather have root canal. Actually my face recovers in the thirty minutes it takes to drive home from Tacoma. Use witch hazel because it really has a cooling effect on those pesky screaming nibs. Follow that up with a little aloe. I get electrolysis so I can't really compare but my understanding is electrolysis is much more painful.

Quote from: KathyLauren on December 26, 2016, 06:25:14 PM
Last week, I had my third laser session on my face.  Apparently six is the normal number of sessions.  Each session, the Marquise de Sade laser technician cranks up the strength a little bit.  This latest session, was extremely painful on my upper lip, even with plenty of lidocaine beforehand.

I am a bit concerned that, one week later, my lip is not back to normal.  It was quite swollen for a couple of days.  Although the swelling has gone down, it does not feel like it is back to normal.  If I press on it, there are still sore spots.

I am just wondering if that is normal.  The first couple of sessions, my face was fine within 24-36 hours.

I am thinking of asking her to not increase the strength further even if that is normal protocol.  I don't think I can stand a stronger zap.

I'm pretty much on the highest setting right now, (we can maybe go up 1 or 2 settings before topping out.)
That said, I've not really experienced a lot of discomfort from it. As I understand it, the denser the hair located in the area, the more pain. As it gets sparser, it hurts less. I'm almost fully cleared of dark hairs as of 4 sessions, and going for my 5th next week. THAT said, most of my hair removal has been done PRE HRT, so I'm told my pain threshold, which is unusually high, may drastically change. (I'm hoping not though, because the highest setting is doing WONDERS.)

She asks me every time before we begin if there's any residue or anything on my skin, this may have a detrimental effect as well? I'm not sure what I can suggest for the pain, but I might avoid putting anything on the skin before hand,

I am session 14 and into my last few and we pick up hopefully most of the stragglers.

Did you get a good shedding of hairs from your laser sessions?

Do they use the swipe method or the place on a spot and zap? I have had 2 techs 1 uses one method and think the swipe method is slightly less painful but not quite as accurate as the stop zap move method.

I used Ice on my lip and made sure I got it nice and numb....I don't get huge amounts of discomfort as I don't have that much dark hair left and what I have got is not the thick posts like they were.

I have session 15 on Thursday and hopefully if I get another good shedd off this one, I should be almost dark hair free.

I have been hair free before but it doesn't really last until you get though a few layers of follicles...but each zapping gets you closer.

If you are getting a good shedding then you may not need to turn the laser up immediately but I would be telling them about your pain as it sounds a bit like you got burnt.

Liz