Hi, I’m new to this. I’ve been doing electrolysis for almost two months now. I’ve recently changed electrolysist. My new gal does it with a microscope. I wanted to know what can I put after my treatment. I’ve been told to put calimine lotion, polysporin, aloe vera. I went to the doctor and he prescribed some desocort creme (0,5%)because the treated area(chin) is a little inflammed. The inflammation looks like acne so I wanted to know if the inflammation will eventually fade away. My electrolysist says it will, It looks bad now because she says the current is strong. Is that true. I don’t want any scars. Help !
I use Decléor Prologéne gel to help repair the skin, and Tea Tree cream to help calm any redness and swelling.
I’ve heard that Tend Skin is very good, but I’ve never tried it myself.
Unfortunately, the swelling is a constant hazard, but I’ve found it can be avoided.
You don’t say how long your session was - that’s an important factor, as is the electrolysis method that she used.
If she used thermolysis (aka diathermy), then she is using just heat alone to zap the hair. Heat has a tendency to spread in the skin tissue, and to hang around for a long time (which is why you should hold a burn under cold water for up to 15 minutes!!) If your hair is very dense, then zapping each hair means that you’re pouring more and more heat energy into the same area.
Personally, I think that excessive treatment of this kind can damage the underlying skin structure (collagen & elastin).
There are steps you can take to avoid it:
1/
Limit the time you spend in each electrolysis session. (If you have lots of hair to get rid of, you might not like to do that!)
2/
Ask her to spend just 15 minutes on each area. So 15 minutes on your chin, then say 15 on your top lip, 15 on another bit, and so on… (That’s assuming that you have a hair problem elsewhere!!)
3/
Ask her not to treat hairs that are right next to each other. Ask her to just ‘thin’ the area by treating hairs that are 1/8th inch apart. (She might not like doing it that way - it’s much more fun to completely zap a whole area!)
4/
Switch to blend. This method uses direct current to create a chemical called lye, then it uses minimum heat to make the lye more reactive. The smaller amount of heat means less risk of deep tissue damage, and that you can treat hairs right next to each other. Also, once the heat source is removed, the lye becomes much less reactive - so even though it might spread to surrounding tissue, it shouldn’t cause much damage.
5/
The other thing you can try is right after your session use an ice pack to cool the area. I’ve found that significantly reduced any swelling!
Surface skin damage is another thing altogether. I have a little bit where the switch on the machine broke - the needle was sparking on my skin, and I have little pits there now. (A similar problem happens sometimes when your therapist gets all fingers and thumbs and forgets to turn the current off before pulling the needle out. Using a good operator avoids that!!)
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the reply. I use Thermolysis. My sessions last about 50 minutes on my chin because the hair is coarse. Next week i’m starting the sides of my face; the hair there is fine and pale. I’ve tried the Tend skin, but it didn’t do much.
Tend skin is for ingrown hairs and this is great for that reason. Aloe Vera and Nutri Gel work great as an after treament. Ice is also good if you apply right away.
Great thread, everyone!
And needless to say, I advise use of Tea Tree Oil (Melaleuca Alternafolia) overnight and Aloe Vera during the day, with an Aloe Cortisone for itching if one has that side effect.