Help with electrolysis

Hi,
I've just had a lady come in for electrolysis on the chin. I use a diathermy unit so started on a low intensity and slowly increased the intensity but the strong hairs would not budge. I used a 4s needle which should have been perfect. Not only that, i felt that probing was really hard as the skin seemed to cover the folicl and a few times there were blood spots due to the fact that i had to break the skin to get the probe in.

Basically i found that very few hairs slid out, even with increased intensity and longer treatment times.

Its left me a bit worried as many hairs had to be pulled out as they would not slide out and if they come out just as hard as before, my client will lose faith in my ability.

Any tips would really be appreciated.

I haven't done electrolysis in years but clients do know that is doesn't happen over night, it's not 100% so i wouldn't worry about her loosing faith. In terms of needles and machines I'd need to go on a refresher but you shouldn't need to pierce the skin, that would mean your not 100% in the follicle and no

Sorry stupid iPhone! So therefore you arnt quaterising the blood supply to the hair. If the skin puckers you have inserted it too far. I haven't done it in a good couple of years so it might have changed but I guess the principles are the same.

From what I have been told as an electrolysis client, dry skin can reduce the effectiveness of the treatment - both in terms of making insertion more difficult - and in terms of the current having less effect on killing the hair follicle - so you would have an opportunity there to sell your client a skincare regime (e.g. facials and suitable skincare products) to complement her electrolysis treatment and hopefully improve its effectiveness.

If you cannot get the needle into the follicle do not force it. Does your machine have anaphoresis and catophoresis on it? If so you can always use that to open up the follicles and close them back down again.
I have had to send clients away having not been able to get in, and told them to exfoliate and moisturise before their next visit. Better that than risk scarring by trying to jam the needle in there when it won't go.
I would use a smaller needle and use blend to get the really stubborn ones out. There should be no traction on the hair when it releases.

Lynne Baker said:

If you cannot get the needle into the follicle do not force it. Does your machine have anaphoresis and catophoresis on it? If so you can always use that to open up the follicles and close them back down again.
I have had to send clients away having not been able to get in, and told them to exfoliate and moisturise before their next visit. Better that than risk scarring by trying to jam the needle in there when it won't go.
I would use a smaller needle and use blend to get the really stubborn ones out. There should be no traction on the hair when it releases.

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Well said, Lynne! You are an Apilus guru too aren't you? Definitely the "Rolls Royce" of electrolysis machines if you ask me!

I use needle size 003s for facial hair sometimes need an 004. What machine have you got? What current strength you use? It takes time with electrolysis. Sometimes you can draw blood if you have gone in too deep.

But surely, you're taught to insert the needle and then pull back before applying the current, thereby avoiding the risk of drawing blood, no?

No i was told to pull back. That's a new method, which i will try in future. I have a carlton Diathermy machine, one of the old style ones. I don't think i'm going in too far as i don't draw blood after insertion, rather its like there's a blood spot before the skin even enters the folicle.

I saw a client that i had performed electrolysis on two days earlier and she had little red scabs on every folicle that i had inserted on. I know that it's normal for there to be a little swelling and scabs to form on an area when electrolysis has been performed but you don't think that i have burned the skin too much do you.

See, i'm second guessing everything now.......

That's exactly why i'm so worried. If i'm not quartarising the folical then i'm not doing the job properly. I suppose i will have to see if the hairs come out again. Thank you for your help.

I'd seriously look into ditching your current electrolysis machine and investing in an Apilus machine (along with training in how to use it as it's quite a different kettle of fish from a bog standard machine); when I started out having electro (with a bog standard diathermy machine) I used to get scabbing a couple of days afterwards (and a very inflamed face immediately after treatment); not so with having treatments with Apilus - where even immediately after a treatment, there is very little redness (particularly if the cataphoresis function is used to close up the pores) - and I would say no scabbing whatsoever!

That's both back in 2000 when the electrologist I was seeing back then down in Surrey switched from a bog standard machine to Apilus (so from lots of pain/redness/scabbing to virtually none - with the same operator - just by switching machine) - and now, where I am seeing an electrologist up in the North West. I just wouldn't want electrolysis with any other make of machine now, to be honest! I don't see the point of subjecting myself to unnecessary pain, having redness and scabbing after a treatment, and even risking permanent pitting and scarring (from having electrolysis with a bog standard machine), when the treatment with an Apilus machine is *so* much better (a LOT less discomfort - even on sensitive areas like the top lip which were EXCRUCIATING with a bog standard machine - yet the treatment is still very effective at doing the job of killing the hairs - primarily because of the accuracy in the way that the current is delivered - diathermy pulses are concentrated into a fraction of a second - 1/100 or even 1/1000 of a second - with computer-controlled accuracy - so that they kill the hair follicle whilst minimising "collateral damage" to surrounding areas).

I should also add that I'm a transgender client too - where the hairs will be that much thicker and tougher than a regular female client (and therefore that much harder to "zap" them with electrolysis)...