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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   3788 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 27, 2024

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I desperately need any tips for reducing pain with laser facial hair removal that might not be easy to find on Google.

I'm 2 sessions in so far, and this is so painful that I cannot find words to express it; I end each session with tears dripping down the side of my head, and I get flashbacks to the session for a few days afterwards that are so intense as to be distracting. I do not have any kind of anxiety disorder, but entering the second session I felt panicked at the pain that was coming (and it did not seem that “the anticipation was worse than the event”.)

I believe the technician is not actually mechanically fucking up and burning me, because I am experiencing absolutely zero redness, blisters, or lasting pain; but this is still such an unpleasant experience that I'm considering aborting the sequence even if they won't give me a prorated refund for the unused sessions.

First session:

  • Didn't take any special precautions
    • the clinic's website said “Most patients describe the laser hair removal process as uncomfortable or mildly painful”;
    • I am a pretty optimal candidate as I have rather light skin and medium/medium-dark facial hair;
  • Did standard recommended prep such as shaving 24h beforehand, avoiding vitamin A the week beforehand (applies to all sessions);
  • attempted dissociation / wandering mind during the session (applies to all sessions);
  • applied a cooling aloe gel provided by the clinic at the end of the session (applies to all sessions).

Second session, after asking the technician for tips and doing a bit of basic research (I'm not sure how much any of this actually helped):

  • 3000mg acetaminophen 30mins before;
  • smearing on a thin layer of lidocaine gel 30mins before, washed off at the clinic immediately before the appointment;
    • this was the technician's recommendation, though I just got whatever was to hand at the local store, which happened to be a 4% gel;
  • requested a stress ball to squeeze during the session.

Current plans for the 3rd session, coming up in around 3 weeks — asking for stuff to add/remove/change here:

  • avoid coffee the morning of;
  • drink water the morning of;
  • 4000mg acetaminophen 1h before, so it has time to properly kick in;
  • 100mg diphenhydramine 30min before;
  • smearing on a 1mm layer of 10% lidocaine cream advertised for tattoo artist use and applying saran wrap on top of it 30mins before, washed off at the clinic immediately before the appointment;
  • bringing a small plush toy of my own as a comfort item to squeeze instead of the clinic's stress ball.

I do not know what laser type this clinic is using; I suspect it's diode (810nm), but I sent them an e-mail this weekend asking so I should hear back within a day or 2. I have read that alexandrite (755nm) might be better and less painful for my skin type. I'm currently e-mailing other clinics in the area to see what laser types they have.

https://cambridgelaserclinic.com/laser-treatments/hair-removal/lasers-explained/ (edit: their great diagram doesn't seem to want to embed as an image)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10886276/#:~:text=The%20800%20nm%20diode%20laser%20causes%20greater%20discomfort%20than%20the%20755%20nm%20alexandrite%20laser.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/pain/acetaminophen-safety-be-cautious-but-not-afraid

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-warns-consumers-avoid-certain-topical-pain-relief-products-due-potential-dangerous-health

I don't have great connections to trans women spaces, but that seems pretty on the higher side of the typical range of pain most I've talked to have reported. It's probably worth emphasizing exactly how painful you find it to the technician; in other contexts I've definitely seen doctors overlook pretty clear pain from a patient because they didn't want to highlight it (even as a necessary step to bring up options) until the patient did, and this does seem like some matter where people have wildly varying responses.

From the literature, 'spot size' is adjustable, and smaller spot sizes seem consistently less painful than larger ones regardless of laser type. Still some tradeoff in effectiveness, and since I think this involves swapping the heads it may not be something that this particular office is set up to do. Some people I've talked to found alexandrite much less painful than diode, but it's not clear how much of that difference reflects the swap also coming at the same time that they went from debulking to fine cleanup work.

You can get 10% lidocaine cream, and I'd consider that. The FDA doesn't like it and I definitely wouldn't use them regularly or outside of this procedure, but the bigger concern about higher OTC concentrations are less likely to be relevant for well-spaced intervals with entirely topical uses on unbroken skin. You may be able to get a script from the tech, though it's also just the sort of 'illegal' that's on Amazon.

I'd reiterate the concerns about general anesthetics: acetaminophen is a helluva drug, and not really good for skin pain regardless of dose, and doesn't mix well.

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