Megazappy!

[sistawendy]

I got six hours of electrolysis on my face today. That's a lot for one session, in case you were wondering.

Good: The only hairs left above my jawline are a few strays, sideburn hairs, and gray hairs only on my upper lip.
Bad: It takes three to six strikes with the needle to kill a hair follicle forever, but...
Good: Ms. Zappy has already reached that limit for most of my brown hairs above the jawline, and they're the most visible little bastards.
Bad: She hasn't touched the area below the jawline in ages, but...
Good: That area isn't as visible as the face.

Don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled to see those hairs gone from my face.

From the Dept. of Neurology: I'm pretty sure I've mentioned here that I occasionally get restless leg syndrome. Today I realized that I was getting an uncannily similar sensation when Ms. Zappy worked on the hairs near my ears. Whichever side she was working on had the leg that got the horrible crawly feeling. I'd actually had the sensation before during electrolysis, but until today I'd never correlated it to a particular area of the face. Zaps to the upper lip make me tear up, which you'd expect, but zaps near the ears give me restless leg? Somebody get Oliver Sacks on the phone.

Comments

[manintheboat.livejournal.com]

I've had much less restless leg since I've totally cut caffeine.

I've electrolysized the insides of eyelids.

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

I've electrolysized the insides of eyelids.

To remove hair?!

ETA: Yeah, I've heard that caffeine is really bad for RLS.

[manintheboat.livejournal.com]

Yes. Sometimes eyelashes grow inward toward the eyeball and scratch the cornea all up and it's ultra painful.
I'll let you imagine how it feels.

[gement.livejournal.com]

Gahhhhh. I've only heard of that in the context of one of the diseases Jimmy Carter's trying to stamp out in Africa. I assume you had it happen for some other reason.

[manintheboat.livejournal.com]

Trachoma.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trachoma

Yeah, but this is a first-world country and I don't think I have ever seen late stage Trachoma. Most of my patients had heath insurance and I'm just not into volunteering at the free clinic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropion
Mostly I saw Entropion congenitally, or from injuries, or just from age. By and large it's fixed by surgery, but if you have a lot of scar tissue or just a few wild hairs, you go with plucking or electro.

[m-cobweb.livejournal.com]

Caffeine and antihistamines both. This can get you in trouble if you're trying to quell an allergic reaction. Not that I'd know or anything.

I have a little trouble with RLS, and apparently a lot of Periodic Limb Movement Disorder, which is the largest cause of my sleep issues. Yay Mirapex--seriously. I've always thought RLS felt like a circulation problem, at least to me, but there has to be a nervous system component too. (Ugh.)

[schmi.livejournal.com]

Where did you get the electrolysis done? I've been thinking about getting some done.

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

Ms. Zappy is Brook Guinn. She works at Caddell's Electrolysis in Bellevue sometimes and in her own office in Tacoma on weekends, but I don't know her exact schedule. I'll mail you her number.

[schmi.livejournal.com]

Ah, thank you! :)

[leenerella]

Incidentally, I've been doing a lot of reading on Devil's Club applications (it's common in the woods around here, and natives have used it as a tea and salve for many things), and one of the uses for it is Restless Leg Syndrome. But I'm just babbling...

Mostly I'm just in awe that you could last that long in one session of electrolysis. I could barely stand 45 minutes before I'd start twitching so bad she couldn't really work on me anymore.

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

I'm just in awe that you could last that long in one session of electrolysis.

Yet more evidence that God put me on earth to change sex. Ms. Zappy calls my tolerance "good". She has one client who comes down from Alaska (!) and has long sessions, too.