I’m looking to start electrolysis treatments on my upper lip and chin (mix of really dark, coarse hairs and finer ones), and this forum has been very useful to me, so thank you. I have a few questions. One is about proper sterilization of the forceps –most of the electrologists I’ve spoken to use chemical sterilizers – is this ok? One of them said that she was inspected and passed by the Toronto Board of Health? Another said some of her clients prefer to buy their own forceps, which I wouldn’t mind doing.
The electrologist that I’m thinking about starting with uses a computerized Silhouet Tone machine. She said she would start by clearing the area with thermolysis and then probably switch to the blend. She did a small test area and I felt resistance on at least one of the hairs - otherwise they seemed to slide out quite easily. My skin seemed to react ok afterwards. She said I would need to come weekly for at least 8 months, although for less and less time each appointment – does this seem excessive? She said the whole treatment should take about a year and a half. I’m wondering if I should start out with her and see how it goes or if I should keep looking?
Another electrologist I saw uses an Apilus, and my skin also reacted ok. She only does thermolysis. She showed me the hairs and some had a white thing around them and some just black bulbs at the bottom. I didn’t feel her pulling out the hairs at all, but she had to zap several of them two or three times. She is really far from my house, and I don’t drive, so going weekly will be tough.
The third woman seemed very knowledgeable and has a Zeiss microscope (the other two use magnifying lenses) and good office hygiene practices, but she charges much more and doesn’t do free test areas, so I can’t comment on her treatments. She said my first full clearance would probably take about a month, and the entire treatment would take about two years.
Any advice on who to choose would be much appreciated!
Chemical sterilization is not okay in the United States. Probes should be pre-sterilized, packaged and disposed of after single use. Forceps (tweezers) cannot be discarded because they are too expensive, so they must be go through a process of being cleaned and then sterilized in a dry heat sterilizer or an autoclave. Even the tip of the needle holder that screws off should be autoclaved or dry heat sterilized. Dry heat -stable tips should be purchased to avoid the tips from melting. Hairtell Pro, Barbara Greathouse CPE is chair of the Infection Control Standards for the AEA. You can private message her here on hairtell for her thoughts or maybe she can add to this thread when she gets a chance. She’s the best!
You may want to look at the the standards of infection control in your area, Toronto, and talk to board members about your concerns with chemical disinfection. See if you can find written standards online or pay a visit to the licensing board. The American Electrology site may have their guidelines on the web at www.electrology.com for you to peruse. This is nothing to mess with, so do some research on your own. This doesn’t settle well with me. Yes, you can buy your own forceps, but you should still sterilize them before each appointment. Maybe the price for service should be 10% less if you have to do your foot work with the forceps in order to have peace of mind.
Silhouet Tone is a very good epilator. The VMC model is very, very nice. Clearing with thermolysis is totally appropriate and if she wants to throw in Blend afterwards, it’s her call for her reasons. All modalities under the umbrella of electrolysis works, so don’t worry. Weekly for 8 months? I don’t know what her strategy is or how much hair you have. For me, whenever the first full clearance is obtained, we go from weekly to monthly and that can happen pretty fast, depending on the difficulty of the case. For most cases, clients get the first clearance asap. They choose to lay on the table for 1-4 hours and we get the hair cleared. There after, I’m seeing them every 3 to 6 weeks (their choice). Rarely do I see someone weekly, especially my out of towners. Maybe she wants to see you weekly because her back and neck can’t tolerate appointments longer than an hour? Just ask her why weekly appointments are necessary for about 8 months.
Does the second woman want to even see you weekly? Apilus is good. Thermolysis is good. Skin reaction good. Full intact hairs good. Distance part- annoying if she wants to see you weekly.
For lady three, she sounds good as well. Just pay for a the shortest appointment she has so you can compare. Her guesstimations are not out of line. Her stereo microscope and hygiene is worth paying extra for because she invested in the best. All you have to do is see where she is on the skill factor. What epilator does she use?
So do practitioners #2 and #3 use chemical disinfection as well?
Thank you very much for your thoughtful reply. #1 and #2 both use chemical disinfection (#1 said it was “hospital grade”), I believe #3 uses an autoclave. All are using disposable probes. They all said they would need to see me weekly at first, and recommended I come for half an hour, and both the length of the appointments and frequency would be reduced as time goes on. Also,#3 uses a Glamread machine, which I haven’t been able to find any information about… when I asked, she said it is about five years old.
I just looked on the Toronto Public Health website like you suggested, and I’ve copied and pasted part of their fact sheet on electrolysis:
Tweezers used to remove ingrown hairs that penetrate the skin, must be cleaned and sterilized between clients.
• Tweezers used to handle sterile needles before they are used must be cleaned and disinfected with a high level disinfectant between clients.
• Tweezers not used to remove ingrown hairs or hold sterile needles must be cleaned and disinfected using an intermediate level disinfectant between clients.
• The removable tip/cap of the epilator needle/probe holder must be cleaned and at a minimum, disinfected with a high level disinfectant after each client.
So at least according to public health standards, it doesn’t look like they require autoclave or dry heat sterilization for the forceps or the needle holder. I understand that the risk of disease transmission from electrolysis is really low, so I don’t know if I’m just being paranoid for worrying about this…
Okay, those are the standards of care in your locale and they are following what is required of them. Is there a date as to when those standards were last reviewed? I wonder how one can measure if that is enough to kill all types of harmful organisms /spores. With sterilization, we can use biological moniters (I do this once a month on my sterilizer) to give us feedback as to whether all harmful germs are being killed. I’m pretty sure you can’t do that with disinfection.
Glamread is a British make epilator. I believe you push a button with your finger, located on the needle holder, to release the energy.