Oh dear now I’m worried about my face !

[jae bear]

 I have been noticing an increased amount of redness and blotchiness every time I’ve come back from the electrologist, it seems to last longer and not go away before my next visit. I’ve also been getting a lot of ingrown hairs, and it seems that the work that has been done grows back and has to be redone. This week I decided to skip my appointment and try to let my face heal,  since it’s a full week away from my last appointment I thought by now my face would have healed a little bit. I became quite concerned as the texture around the corners of my chin are bumpy  and covered with little pits, That skin was smooth before so now I’m a bit concerned...  I did a little research and found lots of horrifying tales of woe, thanks a lot Google. One of the girls at my group is a very well-known electrologist, and many of the girls there have had her work on their face, and their faces are all smooth and young looking. I talked to her after group and she was immediately alarmed by my complexion, and asked if my electrolysis with using thermolysis. Of course I replied that it was galvanic blend, and she corrected me and clued me into what was going on... When in electrolysis technician wants to go faster, all they have to do is to turn up the thermolic setting  and go faster. Sadly this means the client is getting straight thermolysis, not galvanic with a tiny hit of thermolysis.  Thermolysis should not be used for course facial hair, as it causes lots of skin damage, like bumpy texture, small pitted services, lots of ingrown hair, and redness and scarring that is permanent if the operator  worked too hard in one area with the wrong Settings, as I understand it this is very easy to do. Just because the machine says it is galvanic blend does not mean that’s how the operator is using the machine,  turning up the thermolic  Setting the machine essentially operates as a thermolysis hair removal machine, not good. I hate to expose any of you to my horrible looking face but these pictures are a full week after my last treatment and look just as rough as when I came home, I am sincerely frightened that I may have hurt my face and I have made an appointment with my dermatologist to review what is going on. In the mean Time I have canceled my appointments with my electrologist and I am trying to determine what to do next. Part of me simply wants to ask my electrolysis tech to turn the thermolysis setting way down or off and operate in straight galvanic mode, and the other half of me is angry that she may have permanently scarred my face.

 

 

[tracy_j]

Thank you for the update and warning to all Jackie. It is not something that I know anything about and probably would not even think of it, but can see how they would likely try to speed things up. Your redness looks a bit like sunburn, but I see some traces of infection there in spots. It looks like it will clear in time, but I am not a dermatologist so it is just my opinion. Like all skin (or even other) treatments, it is best to seek a professional opinion if things look to be going wrong. Good luck, and I hope you find someone who can do things properly.

 

Tracy

[Jani]

The photos actually don't look bad.  

 

It seems early on the bumps last longer because the root ball being pulled through the pore further aggravates things (IMO).  As the hairs get lighter and thinner this is less of a concern.  I can go for 2 hours now and look good later in the day.   I do ice my face afterwards to cool the skin and reduce the swelling.  Then I use a light coat of ointment like A&D to soothe the areas.  In another week I will have been going for 3 years.  Your face will start to get smoother.  Unfortunately the process does entail multiple zaps to kill the follicle.  You're best to keep a regular schedule (even 30 minutes) where you can catch the hairs when they are in the growth phase (not resting phase).  Once I upped my appointment to 2 hours I have made tremendous progress.

 

Hang in there! 
Jani

[DenimAndLace]

You're understanding of electrology (thermolysis / galvanic) matches the research I've done.  If you hear snapping while being treated you need to find a new electrologist immediately.  Also, if your skin is still angry days after treatment, you might want to ask to try a gold coated needle in case you have, or are developing, a metal allergy (my personal experience).

[Jani]

Good point about the needle.  My technician uses a shielded needle.  I take it that it protects the surrounding skin by only exposing the very tip for energizing.   

 

I never hear snapping, just the click of the foot peddle.  

 

Jani

[jae bear]

 After talking at length with one of the last remaining straight galvanic operators on the west coast I have a Sunday appointment to see her and go for one hour. She’s working on attaining the medical coverage to be provided inside my network but it might take a little while. The cost for one hour with her is just a little more than my co-pay anyway, and since the results are more permanent there is a lot less re-work that has to be done when the hair regrows, when done properly the galvanic method permanently kills the hair the first time.  I’m hoping this method works better for me, I am setting up a dermatology appointment to investigate the condition of my face as it is now, thankfully I haven’t had years of appointments, just a few minutes, once a week for a couple hours. I would hate to think that I have stripped the collagen from my skin causing premature aging of my face!  I don’t remember hearing anything snapping during the procedures, I just know that the cycle time is very rapid, and for galvanic to work even a little before the thermolysis timer comes on you need a few seconds, she is often cycling one second or less and working the foot pedal a lot... I’ve noticed that sometimes she does not use the footpedal and sometimes she does, when she does not use the footpedal it seems that she takes her time and sometimes I swear she’s doing nothing other than plucking hair with her tweezers  very rapidly, I could do that myself! I found recently that what I thought was just me breaking out turned out to be ingrown hair‘s were little fragments that were left with the follicle under the surface of the skin, so I diligently work them to the surface daily and ofyem now use a tweezer to find the root hair if I can, it seems to help tremendously if I can get the hair out of that angry pore... It is often a very weird miss shapen hair and sometimes they are very thick.  Weird ...

 Hugs, 

 Jackie 

[SugarMagnolia]

My experience is definitely different than what you've describe, Jackie. My gal is using blended; however, each hair takes about 15 seconds or so from from inserting the probe to removing the hair. She removes each hair with the tweezers as she goes. In fact, that's part of how she knows that a hair is "done"...giving it a slight pull as she's doing it so that she doesn't do it longer than that individual hair needs. 

I'm wondering if the issue is not so much galvanic vs. blended and rather that your original electrologist may not be well trained or is just taking shortcuts?

[jae bear]

  Hey Julie, 

 that’s exactly rightt, she’s taking shortcuts and only taking 1 to 2 seconds for each hair, and when she pulls them out it’s just like plucking them they don’t come out easy at all, that’s why they keep growing back, what she’s doing is pointless and burning up my face. I am leaving right this very moment to go see my dermatologist, I’ll report back as soon as I get home after work tonight, I hope everything’s OK ! The good news is I have a Sunday appointment with the galvanic only girl not too far for me, and 15 seconds per hair tells me that you’re receiving mostly galvanic, with the thermolysis setting down very low, that’s exactly the way it should be.

Hugs, 

 Jackie