Handling electrolysis pain without a prescription

January 3, 2008 12:31 PM

If you had electrolysis under your chin and along your jawline (or in any medium-sensitive area like that), and handled it WITHOUT any prescription medication or prescription cream, what solutions worked best for you?
posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (2 answers total)

Hours and hours of it. Stay away from stimulants beforehand and take some ibuprofen before it starts. Afterwards, treat it like any other skin irritation. It's not pleasant, and it's going to change your perception of what is pain, but it's doable.
posted by MarcieAlana at 1:02 PM on January 3, 2008

The person performing the electrolysis should give you two forms of pain-mitigators immediately prior: a numbing agent and a cooling cream. If they won't do that, I would find another place. But with the two creams, the electrolysis I had was never more than highly uncomfortable (a level that is, to me, below painful and highly painful). You should also get a sunblock applied afterward (again, by the technician) and ice to apply to your face for a couple of minutes.

I agree with MarcieAlana; stay away from stimulants, don't use an exfoliating treatment or something like Retin-A 24 hours before your session, and if you are a woman, the pain can intensify if you're menstruating. And just as a data point, the one time I'd say the treatment was painful for me was when I'd just gotten some bad news the night before and had spent many hours stressed out and crying. So. . .go ahead and cancel your appointment that day, if you find yourself in the same situation.
posted by tyrantkitty at 7:38 PM on January 5, 2008