Anxious about first LHR appointment on beard area

[bonkatie]

All,

I have my first LHR appointment on my beard area next week.  I'm anxious about the aftermath.  I have a big birthday dinner thing happening a week after the appointment with my family and worried about what I'm going to look like.   I'm worried about ,,pizza face", basically very noticeable redness/pimples/scabbing of my beard area.  I've scoured YouTube and have seen some folks with scabs and pigmentation issues. Does anyone have any detailed pictures of what I'll look like the day after treatment, 3 days later, 7 days later, etc?

I'm not out to anyone except my therapist so might want to reschedule my appointment for after this event.   Any advice is welcome.

Thanks!

Kate


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[MollyPants]

I don't have any pictures but the redness on my face lasted about 6 hours. It was gone as far as anyone could reasonably tell without getting in very close. ObviouslyI could tell by the next day. But not by the day after. Like so many other things ymmv. My beard wasn't that heavy and the first session was at lower power.

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[jill610]

It's going to hurt. A lot. Don't be afraid to say you need a minute to push and get it back together.

I lost up on Tylenol before hand to help keep the swelling down and then put on hydrocortisone cream when I get back in the car.

You are likely to be swollen and red for anywhere from a few hours to several days. The hydrocortisone helps a lot to pull the redness down.

I have never had scabs or burns. Those happen when the laser is too high which is an operator who doesn't know what they are doing. It should hurt but it should not burn you. You should get some follicles ejected, which is good and they just wipe off with a towel.

The smell of the hair burning is like burnt popcorn and can get quite acrid so be prepared.

If your events are a week after the treatment, you should be fine. If you are not, you need a different operator.

[bonkatie]

@mollypants & @Jill10 Thanks for your advice and personal experiences.  This helps a lot.  Any other prep advice to make the best of the treatment?  Like I've heard I should shave closely the morning of the treatment?  I also like the Tylenol idea prior to treatment.  My therapist mentioned they can now also do a dental block to help with pain. Any of you have any experience with that?  Anything else I should know?

Again thanks!

Kate


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[jill610]

@mollypants & @Jill10 Thanks for your advice and personal experiences.  This helps a lot.  Any other prep advice to make the best of the treatment?  Like I've heard I should shave closely the morning of the treatment?  I also like the Tylenol idea prior to treatment.  My therapist mentioned they can now also do a dental block to help with pain. Any of you have any experience with that?  Anything else I should know?

Again thanks!

Kate


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Yeah a couple of things.

I did the injected lidocaine (dental black) once with a four hour electrolysis session and the pain of the injection is like no other. For me it's not worth it and it wears off within an hour or so and I had a lot of really bad bruising.

Shave as close to the session as you can, you want as much going into the follicle as possible and not wasted cooking the hair above the skin.

Do not put anything on your skin after shaving other than just plain moisturizer.

I have used a cream called "feel better now" which I found quite effective at dulling the pain, it's an over the counter BLT compound sold to tattoo artists.

Good luck

[Jessica_Rose]

So far I have had a dozen facial LHR treatments, and a few of them the laser was up a bit too high and left some singed areas of skin. Even in those cases everything healed up well within 3 - 5 days. Under normal circumstances any redness was gone by the next day.

Shave close, using an aloe vera cream after the LHR session feels nice and soothing (unless you are allergic!). The laser salon I went to provided a prescription for 'triple anesthetic cream', which was a compounded BLT cream -- benzocaine, lidocaine, and tetracaine. The BLT cream does help quite a bit. Taking some ibuprofen about an hour before the treatment also helps.

The most uncomfortable spot for LHR is your upper lip, so be prepared. I have been getting LHR on my legs also, and there are places on the back of my upper thigh that are much more painful than any place on my face. I wish you the best of luck on your journey.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

[MollyPants]

@mollypants & @Jill10 Thanks for your advice and personal experiences.  This helps a lot.  Any other prep advice to make the best of the treatment?  Like I've heard I should shave closely the morning of the treatment?  I also like the Tylenol idea prior to treatment.  My therapist mentioned they can now also do a dental block to help with pain. Any of you have any experience with that?  Anything else I should know?

Again thanks!

Kate


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I avoided caffeine and made sure I had a really good shave. Focusing on breathing is best I found.

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[bonkatie]

Thank you for all the advice. This was really helpful!

Kate


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[Margarine]

I did some LHR and then switched to the thunder stick (electrolysis) The BLT cream helps, if you can cover with plastic wrap it helps more. I would put a bunch of ice in my mouth and it helped numb. The upper lip is not great, I always asked to start there if I had ice.
Th major caveat is LHR works best on dark hair and light skin. I had a mix of white, blonde red and brown/black hairs. I did not have a super heavy beard, it is mostly gone and getting down to the end of long hours with the queen of thunder.