Electrolysis

I've talked about this before, but it deserves a thread of its own.

First some good news. The topical anesthetic cream, EMLA, is cheap (about $20 for a 30 gram tube, good for 4 to 5 sessions) and plentiful. The bad news, though, is that it only does so much. I'm told its effectiveness varies depending on how many nerve endings are in a certain area. Bottom line, I can get my cheeks, middle neck and the bottom of the jaw line cleared without much pain, or in some parts with no feeling at all.

But the chin, the lower parts of the neck and the area about the lips, ouch, I mean, seriously, like, literally, it hurts so much with the anesthetic propeprly applied, that I can become incoherent... Especially the area round the lips.

Then there's swelling. the treatment leaves the cleared area swollen for a few days. This is normal, but bothersome. Sometimes there's some scabbing, too, which also clears up in a week or so. But when I get the lip areas done, I go through days of "What happened to you?" asked over and over again...

The best news, though, is that it works. For example, clearing about 1/3 of the neck took about 65 minutes when I first started. Now clearing all the neck and some of the chin takes about 90 minutes. Progress!

I'm at about 50 hours of torture (I mean treatment). I estimate I'll be done, hopefully, in 80 to 90 hours total. Maybe as much as 100 to 110. That's not too bad.

Can I ask you something without prying or offending you?
Are you transgendered?

Quote: WongBo

Can I ask you something without prying or offending you?
Are you transgendered?

Prying? Hardly. It's all over this section of the board.

Wouldn't you know it? I just posted this and a few minutes later I got a recommendation for a dermatologist...

BTW my electrologist told me of a client who visited an exhibit of torture instruments used by the Inquisition. the client said "I was surprised your isntruments were missing." The electrologist replied "Well, they didn't have electricity back then..." :)

Last session lasted only one hour (scheduling matters). Even though we did the lower lip and areas around the chin, it wasn't as bad as the one before. I think that pain or no pain, one hour is easier to take.

The problem is I can only go on Saturdays, and naturally I want to get the most work done in the time available. As it is I can't even go every Saturday, because they sometimes don't have a slot for me <sigh>.

I'm taking a two month break from electrolysis (yay!).

It's like this:

They charge by the hour, but sell blocks of 20 hours for long treatments (like mine) at a discount. These are payable in three installments. I'm at the end of the current block, with about 100 minutes remaining which will be used up next Saturday.

Well, it takes about a week to recover fro the treatment, mroe or less, but the more time the better. Since I'll be out for two weeks in may, and since I want as little facial problems as possible then, I thought it best to simply let time run out and renew it once I'm back from Vegas. Also the anesthetic should last for one more session with only a little left then.

Little update:

I'm having great progress on the cheeks, neck and chin areas. Clearing them takes just about 60 minutes now, and what grows back tends to be thin and feeble. As far as those areas are concerned, the end is defintely near. What's best yet is how soft my skin is there. I'd no idea I had any good skin anywhere :)

The bad news is that the bleeping anesthetic is only a little bit better than nothing in the lip areas. It does feel numb, but once the needle goes in and the current gets applied, I swear I may as well not have bothered. And I should commend my electrologist for being able to keep going despite the strangled screams.

She came up with a plan to do just parts of these areas each session. We'll see how that goes. Call it plan A.

Plan B is to try laser or IPL hair removal. I'm highly skeptical of both for facial hair, and just about 100.17% sure neither can achieve permanent results. Not in the areas around the lips. But if they can weaken the follicles, and if it doens't hurt as much as electrolysis, then it would be wortht eh shot in roder to minimize the needle time. Also for that I'd ahve to wait until October for various reasons I don't care to explain.

Time for a progress report:

The cheeks and neck are just about done. The electrologist now even needs to apply a tint in order to find the hairs to zap them :D The chin is progressing nicely, and will be done soon.

That leaves the most painful areas: the sideburns, and lower and upper lips. The sides have been getting zapped lately, so that's fine and I can take the pain reasonably well. The lips are a different matter. I'm doing a bit at a time, though this bit includes the full lower lip every time (it's rather small in area and responds very well). I'm also doing just one side at a time. LAst Saturday it was about 1/3 of the upper lip on the right, next time it will be the left side.

I'm going twice a month now rather than once a week. However, I've been thinking of gaining ground over the upper lip by going once a week again for a couple of months. If so, I'd do the full left or right side one week, then just the upper lip the next, then the other side the following week, and so on.

As to how well I'm done with the cheeks and neck, not only do I not need concealer there any longer, I could even not shave and no one would know.

ON the plus side, the chin went fast.

On the down side, I've missed two appointments due to work <grumble, grumble>. Work's been just brutal these past two weeks, and it's not letting up. What possesses our clients from issuing their invitations all at once, I'll never know. So I get just one more session before heading to Vegas.

On the other plus side, Vegas is less then 23 days away!

i think also...