By Sheri Gwen Evans
Subscribers can read Part Two and Part Three in this series
Dr. Fulton spoke about his background in the field of skin care and cosmetic surgery. He had very impressive credentials. He was one of the co-creators of Retin-A, for example. He told of all the different services that his clinic provides: Laser peals, dermabrasion, liposuction and liposculpture, etc. Tons of things on any TG gal's wish list. And he mentioned a new proceedure that his clinic had just recently started providing that Dale was going to be telling us about called EpiLaser. A very new laser hair removal technique. My ears perked up. I had heard about the other forms of laser hair removal from girls who had had it done and was very skeptical about them. The cost was prohibitive and the results were dubious. But a "new" technique? I'll listen...
Dale Case, a licensed electrolygist and former president of The California Electrolysis Association, then got up and began telling us about EpiLaser. It had only received FDA approval 4 months ago and was still being experimented with by the doctors and staff at their clinic. Dr. Fulton even had a patch of his chest tested on. The results of all the studies and trials were very impressive. We were told that they can't advertise the proceedure as "Permanent", but the word was thrown around quite a bit that night. In fact, a girl at the meeting who had brought them to our group had even had it done to her facial hair a month or so prior. She looked fabulous and said she wasn't shaving any more. She would only need another treatment or two and then that would be it. Supposedly no more facial hair. They had my attention!
Dale went on to explain the process, which seemed different from any other I had heard of.
The client is clean shaven to begin the proceedure. No special lotions or anything are put on the face unless a topical pain killer is requested. The laser probe, kind of a rounded end flashlight-looking thing at the end of an articulated arm, is then put in contact with the skin to be treated. The probe also has a cooling system that cools the surface skin to prevent damage and some discomfort. The laser is then fired. Because of the specific frequency of this laser, only the dark pigment of hair is affected. Fried, basically, killing the folicle, papilla and all. Essentially what electrolysis does as far as I can tell.
Only this is an instantaneous shotgun approach where as electrolysis is like sniping. An area roughly 1/2" in diameter is treated at a shot. Then the laser is moved on to the next spot.
No black lotions. No letting the hairs grow out so they can be waxed. No muss, no fuss. The treated hairs eventually "Work their way out" after a few weeks. You would still need to shave for that time to stay smooth, but eventually there just isn't anything left to shave.
The gal who had it done said it was a bit painful but not as much as electrolysis. There might be some reddenning afterwards on the treated areas. Red spots that supposedly go away after a few days but they said they have never scarred anyone with this technique. The whole treatment for a full beard area, neck and all, takes about 1/2 hour. Generally, 2 or 3 treatments, a few weeks apart, are needed to "Acheive permanence."
Electrolysized jaws were dropping all around the room. "How much does this thing cost though?" a gal blurted out. "Sessions are charged in 15 minute increments," Dale said, "at $135 per 15 minutes."
You could have heard a pin drop in that room. About 25 gaping mouthed transsexuals sat frozen in their seats.
Dale said that it was neccessary to come in for a free test treatment at least 5 days before the full proceedure was done to see if there were any bad effects and to see what settings to use. FREE test treatment??? "Do you have your appointment book with you RIGHT NOW???" I said franticlly. She smiled and said that I would need to call their office to make an appointment. I did, at 8am the next morning.
I have had 73 hours of regular electrolysis so far. If I am lucky, I was looking at only another 150 more or so. The idea that I could be without facial hair in only a few weeks was just too much to even grasp. And relatively cheaply! The phrase, "Too good to be true" was running through my head like a mantra.
But if this actually worked, I could go full time within WEEKS instead of another year, I realized! The beard has been the only real thing stopping me. I could still use another half a closet full of clothes but everything else is in place. It was pretty darn well worth a shot, I figured.
The clinic was very upscale and posh. It seemed more like a gigantic Beverly Hills salon than a medical facility. Newport Beach was a perfect place for them to set up shop. Lots of image-conscious women with lots of money. Dale is a very beautiful woman who, as it turned out, had availed herself of many of the clinic's services. She looked to be in her early 30's but was in her 50's. A walking testimonial of Dr. Fulton's talents.
She met me and led me to the EpiLaser room. The machine, about the size of a large office copier, sat in the middle of the room next to the examination bed. I hopped on the bed and Dale examined my face. I was a perfect candidate, she told me. Light skin and VERY dark hairs. (The laser only really works on dark hairs she had told us at the meeting. Light hairs are mostly unaffected.) She asked about my tolerance to pain and I told her it was pretty high. She decided to try a couple shots at the highest setting and a couple at the next one down on my upper neck area. I had shaved closely before coming so away we went!
The probe felt like a dry ice cube against my skin. The zaps themselves felt like a tiny rubberband being snapped against my face. Zap, zap, re-set, zap, zap. Test treatment complete!
She asked how I did with the pain and I told her it wasn't all that bad. We could probably do the full treatment at the highest setting then if there weren't any bad side affects like discoloration (which she said has never been permanent on any patient). I looked in the mirror and couldn't even tell where she had zapped me!
I went ahead and made the appointment for the full treatment to be four days hence and went home STILL not grasping the huge implications of what this could mean for me. IF IT WORKED!
I decided I really needed to try and stay grounded about this. Getting my hopes up about going full time so soon only to have them dashed by failure would not leave me in too good a place, to put it VERY mildly.
Over the next four days, I watched the area she treated carfully for any signs of ANYTHING. I never could tell where she had done it exactly, which I took as a very good sign. And it did seem like hairs were not coming in like the others in that vacinity at the end of the four days.
Here is where timing comes into the story. My appointment was for Saturday. I was leaving on a momentous trip on the following Wednesday to Kansas for my neice's wedding. My whole family was going to meet Aunt Sheri for the very first time! I was going to do the entire trip, plane flights and all, in girl-mode. I had been looking forward to this trip for 6 months. The biggest homecoming of my entire life. I didn't want anything to spoil it.
But I reasoned that since there were no ill effects from the test treatment, there was probably no reason to not go ahead with the treatment before I left. The few days until Wednesday would be enough for any marks to fade, if there were any, I thought. Maybe I wouldn't have to shave as much on the trip? Heck, I'm GOING FOR IT!
Impatience, Thy name is "Transsexual".
Dale took me right in when I arrived for my appointment (in Guy-mode). She examined my face carefully and was very pleased. I should, "Get VERY good results from the highest setting and should only need one more treatment... to acheive PERMANENCE" she said. There was that word again. I was hooked. Up on the table I went!
The zaps felt just the same, but getting one once every two seconds for minutes at a time was none too pleasant after awhile. But I made it. Most of the way through, Dale said to me, "...well, you ARE getting a little bit of welting..."
WELTS?!?!?! Nobody ever said nothing about no WELTS!!!!! She finished the treatment and told me that WAS a bit red where she had worked, but she was very confident that she hadn't missed any areas and I was going to have great final results.
I got up and looked into the mirror to see a VERY different face than the last time. My entire beard area was COVERED with 1/4" diameter dark red spots! And I was beginning to feel like I had the worst sunburn of my life.
She said that the burning will go away in a 1/2 hour or so. She put some creams on to help it heal and gave me some little packets of them to take with me. She said that this wasn't an uncommon reaction and that the spots should fade within 3 or 4 days. I did the math in my head and didn't like what I came up with.
She said I could put make-up on that night if I wanted to to cover them up. (Make-up? Yeah, right. SPRAY PAINT maybe!) She had no reason to give me as to why the test didn't show the same results as the actual treatment. Everything had been the same. THAT made me feel more assured! I left the clinic looking like a Plague victim and cursing my blasted impatience.
The next morning, the dots had turned into scabs. I was really getting worried and depressed now. AND... hair still seemed to be growing out of my face quite exuberantly, thank you very much. I began thinking the worst: I am scarred for life and it didn't even WORK! AND THE TRIP!!!
Dammit! What was I going to do? I kept the cream on my face constantly. I went back to the clinic first thing Monday morning to talk with Dale again. She was very reassuring about it not being permanent. The spots should just fall off in a couple days, she said. She seemed very pleased by it all. I told her of my travel plans and she did cringe a bit. She said again that make-up should cover it. I left feeling better and a little more hopefull.
By Tuesday night, the scabs were still there, although a bit less intense in color. My flight left at 10am the next morning. I still wasn't sure how I was going to play all this. I was looking at a scab in the mirror, gently scraping at it with a fingernail and to my amazement, it flaked right off!
The skin underneith was pink and smooth! It was like it had been a paint chip or something! I set to work with some tweezers and gently peeled off every spot! I couldn't beleive it. But now I had a different problem. The spots were now almost WHITE. All the pigment in the skin was gone where they had been. But it was a step in the right direction!
The next morning I shaved and did my make-up. It DID now seem like there hadn't been as much to shave as there should have been after so many days. My hopes were climing again. And with the help of Dermablend, I was off into the wild blue! The trip went off fabulously. (A story for another time, perhaps?) I could still tell that the spots were there but the family said that they were almost unnoticeable. I never got an obvious read the entire trip.
So, it has been a tad over 2 weeks since the treatment. Pigment has almost fully returned to the treated areas. And the beard? ***SMILE*** It is DEFFINITELY slowing down! The hairs are only coming in slowly and in patches. SOMETHING has happenned to them! And when I do shave, my skin is smoother and there seems to be less and less shadow to deal with! So we shall see.... I go back for the second treatment at the end of this month.
It will still be awhile yet before I know whether or not it is all just "Too Good To Be True." I'll let you all know!
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