Firstly, apologies if my questions have been answered elsewhere, but I’m early in my electrolysis journey and could use a little guidance. I have both excess facial hair and acne as a result of PCOS. Thankfully my hair growth is not particularly dense, and in the past I would simply tweeze it, but I got sick of doing that because of ingrown hairs. I’m now very actively treating the acne (both through systemic and topical medication). The systemic medication will eventually also help with the hair growth, but that will take some time.
In the meantime, I’ve been doing electrolysis for the past three months, going every two weeks for 15 minutes. I’m getting great results already, but the unfortunate side effect is that I do tend to get pimples in a few of the spots that have been treated. This is somewhat disheartening when I’m so actively trying to treat my acne, because my acne treatment has been quite effective on the rest of my face.
So, on to my questions:
What is the best aftercare to prevent pimples where I’ve had electrolysis?
Is there any disadvantage to stretching out my electrolysis treatments to every 3 or 4 weeks? This would allow me to deal less frequently with the acne that happens as a result.
I feel like I’ve read elsewhere in this forum that it’s a myth that one needs to ‘catch’ the hair in a particular growth phase, and that the frequency of appointments is based on what you want cosmetically. I’m due to go for my next appointment this week but based on what I’m seeing on my face, I’d be very happy to leave it another week (there are very few dark hairs).
There’s a little information I’m missing but I think we can work around it. I believe it likely we are seeing the effect of contamination of the electrolysis treatment site.
Acne and hormonal vulnerability go hand in hand. It’s usually the excess testosterone from PCOS that causes generalized acne. Acne is a breakdown of the system inside the Sebacious unit, that being, the hair follicle. Often if we are treating withe electrolysis successfully , we are disabling the overactive sebacious gland present in the follicle.
However there is a risk that comes up if proper disinfection doesnt take place, or if the follicle is contaminated by some means. This will lead to a “wall of whiteheads resembling acne” and this I think is what you are describing. Here are a few possible causes of this:
the electrologist is using insufficient cleansing techniques prior to treatment.
the electrologist is not using sterile instruments, example re-using probes, unsterilized tweezers, or lack of gloves or hand-washing before treatment
the area is being contaminated by yourself, sometime briefly after treatment.
Lets go over these three possibilities and how to avoid them. First, cleansing the face prior to electolysis is important to treatments that dont cause this. I use a combination of Witch Hazel before treatment , then follow up with a wipe down with Rubbing Alcohol ( required in my country by health regulation) If done thoroughly an properly this will prevent contaminants from the skins surface from causing infection in the treated hair follicle.
Along with this, a good electrolysis should be doing the following:
Hand washing thoroughly immediately before every treatment , and donning gloves.
Using ONLY new sterile needles for every treatment.
Using ONLY sterile tweezers that are packaged in protective sterile envelopes and opened in front of you. Many states and provinces also require that chemical tests be added to every tweezer pouch to make sure sterile conditions exist inside that envelope.
Finally aftercare is vitally important. My usual recommendation is for refridgerated aloe vera get, plain water , and nothing else. But not using Acne creams in the 24-48 hours after treatment, no polysporin or other things to “assist healing” is just as important. There is NOTHING you can put on the skin to assist in healing. Let it heal, and if in doubt, use nothing but plain water . Also avoid touching the area as you will often have dirt and other contaminants on your fingers which case this issue. The one case I had this happen many years ago, it was because the client felt a little swollen as they watched youtube were rubbing their face.
If the whiteheads persist beyond all these measures, it’s time to perhaps consider changing out the probe to a gold plated needle. The nickel in stainless steel some people have allergies to, and this will result in a histimine reaction ( and whitehead) . By changing to a gold needle you avoid this.
During the 12 hours or so immediately following treatment, the follicle is filling with blood and healing factors and a thin epidermal layer is forming over the follicle. Once that happens nothing gets in, and nothing out. The trick, is to keep the area contaminant free right up to that point. If you are seeing immediate acne almost right after treatment, this is most certainly what is happening.
Dont be afraid to ask questions of your electrologist on their sterilizing and cleansing techniques. If they arent washing hands, using a new sterile needle, or wearing gloves or using sterile implements, or cleaning the skin before treatment… WALK AWAY . Dont add any acne creams or anything else to the skin that doesnt need to be there during the 48 hours after treatment.
Hello, thanks so much for your lengthy reply, you’ve given me lots of useful tips. I’m satisfied that the electrologist’s sterilisation is up to scratch, but I think my aftercare could use some work. It’s so tricky, since I’m treating skin on my face, and I have to go out in the world afterward and spending time face-to-face with other people, so my instinct has been to put a little tinted mineral sunscreen on the effected areas to allow me to face the world. I’m rethinking the timing of my appointments to allow me to leave the skin alone until it’s more healed.
In any case, in regards to my second query, am I detracting from my results if I start stretching my visits out to 3 week intervals?
When in doubt, for 48hours after treatment use just plain water. It couldnt be simpler aftercare., Sunscreen will have multiple contaminants that can cause issues immediately after treatment. Nothing at all, is an even better approach.
If you are clearing all the hair in each session, you are still well within the growth cycle spreading 3 weeks apart. Whjat you have heard is correct, we can destroy a hair in any stage of growth in which the hair is present in the follicle. So kill em all!
Consider that when you are acne-prone, all the sebaceous glands are larger and more active … and, that includes the pilosebaceous units (hairs and sebaceous glands). So, with electrolysis, the follicle is killed, but there is a lot of (now dead) material still in the dead follicle.
The body reacts to this “junk” by sending in healing factors. These are white cells that also die when they deactivate the left over “junk.” So, you’ll get little pimple-looking bumps: dead material and dead white cells. In most cases, when the dead material is minimal, the body easily clears it out. If there is too much dead material, and the body cannot carry it all away, you’ll see a little “pimple” of dead junk (mostly dead white cells). Therefore, this sort of situation is not an actual infection, because an infection involves an external pathogen introduced (by dirty hands or needles).
Instead, such “pimples” are called sterile inflammation (if I remember correctly). So, it’s your own tissue being removed by your body. Nothing to worry about. Just break the pimples (wash them out) … you might see a little bleeding. Apply alcohol or other appropriate product.
The key sign is that an external infection would cause problems with the surrounding skin. The “sterile inflammation” will just raise a tiny pimple-like lesion. No worries … and, this will get better as your medication reduces the size and activity of all the sebaceous glands.
I also have to chime in with what Dr. Chapple has told me for years. A person will have, say, a face lift … and then attempt to make it better by cleaning the wound (stitches) and applying all sorts of products. By contrast, there are the people that do nothing and show up with still-bloody, even dirty, bandages.
The person who did nothing and kept their “cotton pickin’ fingers” off the stitches do much much better: no post-treatment infections. The “fiddlers” sometimes will use “miracle products” to make it better, and end up with "miracle problems.
Chapple always says: your body loves your own BLOOD. It’s there for a purpose that cannot be duplicated by any product. Just leave it alone, honey!
That’s really reassuring to hear that three weeks will still work as an interval between treatments - that makes things much more manageable for me! Thank you again for your reply.
Thank you for both of these replies. I’m definitely going to try my best to leave the areas well alone for as long as possible after treatment. The analogy about people with dirty wound dressings rings true!