Lasering Off Facial Hair

By Kelly Ann


Because of the enormous interest in new laser techniques for hair removal we have asked Kelly Ann to report back from time to time on how her treatments are going. These articles are NOT an endorsement of this very new technique, one which is quite controversial. TGForum takes no opinion on this technique but thought you might find Kelly's experience of value.
I have begun electrolysis treatments that can treat the entire face in one sitting that has been 99% effective on my SO, Marilyn, in less than five sittings/treatments.

Spa Thira is the name of the facility in La Jolla, Ca. One is opening in Beverly Hills this month. Marilyn has written about her experiences and I would like to take this opportunity to add my views and experiences for the TG Forum readership.

In my opinion this costly yet efficient treatment of unwanted body hair in comparison to conventional electrolysis is like the difference between the spear and the gun.

Costly because the full yearly payment is due up front prior to the start of your first treatment. This buys you a years worth of unlimited visits. Effecient because each treatment is a whole treatment. All that needs treating is taken care of in one visit. Conventional means, more affordable per visit, will still vastly out weigh Spa Thira's costly initial price when the conventional means of treatment is concluded.

Price for my entire face via laser: $6000.00 and one visit.
Price of conventional means for my face: approx. $25,000.00 and 500 visits.

It has been proven very effective yet they still must hold to their non-permanent/un-guaranteed service policy. The goal of the treatment is to disable the hair growth, not to destroy the hair follicle. Althought the results seem in every respect to be permanent, they will not guarentee it. My SO's face is virtually hair free after 5 visits with no visable regrowth.

How It Is Done

The treatment is fairly simple. The face is cleansed, the hair is waxed off, so a growth of at least 1/4" is required. Also for effective waxing and if you are TS you must have been on hormones for at least 6 months.

After waxing the empty hair folicles are filled with a black carbon based lotion that is smeared all over the treatment area. A manually operated blue laser with needle fine precision is passed over the treatment area. When the laser hits the carbonized lotion is heats up so fast it literally explodes within the hair follicle sounding like and feeling like a rubber band snapping against your skin. The lotion vaporizes and the vapors are sucked up into a vacuum which encompasses the laser gun.

The vapor has a spent gun powder like odor. I actually felt the heat of the laser and the tiny explosions gave the sensation of a knife cutting into my very sore skin.

As I said the skin was very sore due to the waxing which attibuted to the discomfort of the lasering. An easy waxing will mean an easy lasering later on. (It takes a lot guts and determination to be a TS in transition. You have a lot of painful procedures to endure if you're going to be one.)

Afterwards the skin is cleansed and treated with special emolients to aid the healing. Nothing can be applied to the skin for 2 days unless it's an spf lotion or some other moisterizing cream that will not block the pores of the skin.

For my beard to be properly treated I must expect to be there at least 3 hours. But for those 3 hours you are treated like royalty. For $6000 I should be.

Also on my first visit I actually spent 6 hours there and due to my virginal face I went thru 6 hours of torture that left me physically and emotionally drained. 5 years of competition body building with frequent steroid abuse did not help my facial hair either. My facial hair had very deep roots and was very tough from the steroidal usage of my past life.

The waxing was virtually ineffective leaving them no choice but to laser over the top of my hair in hopes it would cause enough damage so that it would be weaker for the next visit. As the laser passed over areas that were waxed it felt as if my face was being skinned alive. The laser cut like a scalpel into my sore skin. I had to be held down on the table by two assistants. I thrashed so badly my safety goggles kept falling off. What should have been a 15 minute lasering job took an hour! They won't forget me anytime soon and probably do not look forward to my future treatments.

I plan to assist this next time by hanging up the razor for good and doing my own "waxing" with a Braun Epi-sil hair remover each time my beard grows long enough for it to work. By constantly "removing" the hair my self I will weaken the beard to a point of easy waxing and painless lasering, hopefully.

My esthetician recommended to me "Emla" cream and gave me a prescription for it. It basically is a topical anesthetic for numbing the skin. However the trouble it takes to use it effectively makes it impractical.

I see only one practical solution to the pain factor. Local anesthetics. I highly suggested this to them and since they have registered nurses employed at the facility they should be trained and allowed to administer local anesthetics as any dentist would. I would even consider seeing a dentist for this purpose prior to any future treatment.

I know as the beard becomes weaker and waxing becomes easier the treatment on a whole will become less difficult to endure and may even become one of those pleasant "rights of passage" among many we TS's must traverse.


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