It's been 7 days since my second treatment and most of the scabs have gone away. It's just a bit red in spots. I am worried though because they are a few pits (about 4-5) above the lips where she has made insertions. I don't remember whether I heard fizzling during those particular ones. Has anyone has this experience before? Will the pits go away?

Are you applying any tea tree oil or witch hazel?

After my first treatment I applied tea tree oil. But after the second I applied witch hazel (distilled).

I had my third treatment today with a different lady. Since the redness has not gone away since my last treatment she asked me how long ago I had my last appointment (I said a week - 7 days). This treatment was much more tolerable than the last one. She worked on me for 10 minutes. Since I booked a 15 minute appointment I asked her whether she could work on me for 5 more minutes but she said all the other hairs were fine and she didn't want to touch them. During the treatment I told her that the lady who worked on me last (on the same machine - Fischer) used a high setting. She told me she was using advaned setting on me. She said the machine has advanced, medium and high; but since the hairs were sliding out ok at advanced she thinks it would be alright to use this setting. If some hairs were more stubborn it would be increased to medium for those.

Now my question is: if a lower setting is used does that effect the quality of the treatment? During treatment I felt most of the hairs slide out without being plucked (there were a few that felt a little plucked). One strage thing I noticed is some feeling of being pricked with the needle. I guess it was just her making the insertions with a fine needle.

I had my 4th appointment today (7 days after my last one) with the 3rd electrologist at the same place. Even though I prefer electrologist #2 and #3, I think I might give #1 another try. She worked on me during my first and second visit when I had more hairs on the upper lip (and bleached), so she might have had a harder time getting perfect insertions and using a higher setting.

Today I asked the lady to use average or medium setting on my upper lip. She tried average but the hairs weren't releasing so she went with medium. I still think that's better than high because the insertions from 2 weeks ago on high (by electrologist #1) are still slightly red and I don't want skin damage from too high of a setting. There are also small pits where those insertions were made. I am hoping they will heal with time.

Anyways, the appointment was for 10 minutes again and she mostly cleaned up the darker new hairs and longer bleached hairs that were missed during the last treatment. I have stopped bleaching and haven't bleached for 4 weeks now (I used to do it every week or 2). So I am much happier now that I don't have to be so self conscious.

Also, I don't know if it's worthwhile to keep posting pictures on here as the area would probably look roughly the same each week.

Thanks to everyone again for maintaining such a wonderful site.

Until next time,
Alexandra

Thanks for the update.

Are you using aftercare to help with the healing? Are you waiting long enough for all the side effects to go away before retreating the same spots?

I use witch hazel about 4-5 times a day to keep the area clean. If that's not available I use polysporn. I also use cortate cream to reduce the redness on the first and second day after treatment. I generally book the appointments 7 days apart and the hairs that are now being treated are scattered so I don't think any particular area is being overheated.

Although, I think the treatment that gave me the problem was the second one because a lot of hairs were removed from the same area on a high setting (I think medium would have worked fine as it is working fine for me now). After the second treatment my upper lip was slightly swollen for 2 days. I will see how it heals after the 4th treatment of scattered hairs on a medium setting.

Alexandra

I had my 5th treatment today. The lady used an average setting on me on a Fischer machine. The redness was gone within two days.

I am very concerned about pits forming on my upper lip. It seems that my first two treatments on high setting may have been the cause. The insertion points are still slightly red (this is 4 weeks after!)I am thinking of stopping elecrolysis altogether. I hope these pits will go away :S I'm so afraid right now that they will stay. Do these pits generally fill over with time? What are the signs that they will become permenant skin damage?

Is this the first practitioner you saw or did you get other consultations. These kinds of problems are reported if any epilator is used with lack of skill, but more so, if the top of the line epilators are used with skill and diligence, you would not be here complaining about your treatment.

Redness, beyond what's normal is caused by excessive blood circulating in the injured area due to blood vessels that are dilated. Pitting is caused by overtreatment or infection. Let this heal before having another treatment. Healing depends on your aftercare and the health and healing powers of your body. Permanent skin damage? I would say the chances are slim to none. It will take weeks to heal, so don't assault this area again. Repeated overtreatment is what you want to be concerned about and it doesn't sound like you have been repeatedly overtreated for months and months.

I will stress with passion as I always do: TELL YOUR ELECTROLOGIST ABOUT YOUR CONCERNS. Tell her you want her to see what happened to you after she worked on you. She should make time to see you. Either she will be defensive or she will learn from this and not repeat this kind of treatment on anyone. We all say we want to help people in this life, well, this is a special way you can HELP a business person become a better business person. Let her know that this is not acceptable and then be ready to move on to another electrologist if she is defensive and dismissive, that is, if you are blessed to have another electrologist in your locale.

It is okay to come here and complain or vent about what worries you, but what really matters is settling this between the two of you.

Can you submit another picture?

Here are the pictures. As you can see the pitting got progressively worse (especially on my right side - the last picture). All these pits were caused by my first two appointments during mid and end of June 2008. And from far away they still appear red. I think i will just stop the treatment for a month or two to see if they go away... I just really hope they aren't permanent. Any advise?

Thanks!


Picture taken on July 4th, 2008



Pictures Taken on July 25, 2008