facial electrolysis with an ICD

Hello All,

I am scheduled for my ICD implant on the 20th - two days away and have just one more question. Can I still have electrolysis on my face afterwards or is this contraindicated? The nurse did not know but stated that her unit runs on radiofrequency waves. Does anyone else have experience with this issue? Thanks

Pauline

1 Comments

Electrolysis

by Juan - 2011-01-18 12:01:03

My wife has used electrolysis. The following is from a brochures she has on the subject.

Disadvantages of electrolysis

Though this is a highly advanced method, one needs to be aware of its drawbacks. Here is a list of them:

Patients with pacemakers cannot undergo electrolysis.

It is a time consuming process since it requires a number of sittings for long-term removal of hair. Usually, professionals can target 25–100 hairs per session and individual treatments vary from 15 minutes to one hour. It may take months of such repeated sessions to get the desired results. Hence, experts also advice that electrolysis is best suited for small, localized regions of hair growth.

It involves discomfort and pain. Hence, it is not suitable for children. Pain occurs shortly after treatment caused by the conducted heat and tissue destruction. This can be lessened by application of shorter pulses of the ‘flash’ type. Topical (lidocaine) anesthetic creams can also help reduce the discomfort.

Side effects may occur in the form of perifollicular inflammation (swelling), post inflammatory hyper- or hypopigmentation and sometimes there is scarring, erythema, folliculitis and some local infections. Scarring can be avoided if the proper process and current are involved. However, despite apprehensions there have been no cases of hepatitis, herpes, or AIDS via electrolysis till date. But one must be informed that there is no standard of practice regarding the use of disposable versus reusable needles, investigations or uniform standards of sterilization of the equipment either.

Re-growth of hair: Hair re-appearance is another problem and can occur even under the most expert care. Estimates suggest that 15 to 25% of treated hair reappears, which is dependent on a number of factors like the electrolysis machine used, the training and expertise of the professionals involved, whether the anagen or the telogen hair has been targeted etc.

Electrolysis is also an expensive process.

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I had a pacemaker when I was 11. I never once thought I wasn't a 'normal kid' nor was I ever treated differently because of it. I could do everything all my friends were doing; I just happened to have a battery attached to my heart to help it work.