I receive at least five emails per week from people who are anxious about post-treatment manifestations from electrolysis treatments. For the most part, their worries are unnecessary because these skin problems will resolve and never be an issue.
A lovely young woman wrote yesterday and was horrified that there were red dots on her skin, 10-days after her electrolysis treatment.* These dots were flat, not raised and not scabs … just red dots. She hadn’t sent me a photo at that point, but I already knew that she was a person with very white skin. Her photos, that she sent the next day, confirmed my assumptions. Of course, she wanted to know, “how to get rid of them immediately!” However, with any skin problem, you should know what that “thing” is, before you try to get rid of it. So, what are these red dots?
The medical term is angiogenesis, meaning: ‘the genesis (growth of) new blood vessels.’ Now, if you have the time, you can watch my 3-videos called The Healing Skin, or you can download the fee publication called The Wound Module. But I’ll make it short-and-sweet.
Electrolysis destroys tissue and produces a tiny dead space where the follicle used to be. The body wants to fill-in this space quickly; but skin tissues cannot advance to close the wound without a blood supply. So, how does that happen?
First, there are special cells that fill the wound-gap with a thick gel-like (collagen) substance. Chemical signals are simultaneously sent to the surrounding blood vessels that were also destroyed by electrolysis. Almost immediately, the blood vessels sprout little buds that are only 1-cell thick. The gel-like collagen supports these ultra-thin blood vessels. These buds form loops of capillaries (and venules) that continue to form sprouts and loops; and quickly the vessels connect-up. They form a dense cluster of blood vessels (like a web), that then nourish the skin cells and enable the cells to rebuild the skin.
Now, if you have thin white skin, you can see this network of blood vessels that will appear as red dots! Dark skinned people will never see red dots … however, they might think that they are seeing instant hyperpigmentation (but they’re not … that happens later on, if at all). Red Dots? Well, indeed what you’re looking at is normal and necessary. Your skin cannot heal without this miracle of blood vessel regeneration!
Eventually, as the skin normalizes, the network of blood vessels is converted into normal/regular blood vessels. The loops are absorbed and drop out. The skin heals beautifully, and the red dots completely disappear. So, if (and when) you see these red dots just be happy. Your skin is normal and you are seeing a perfect healing process. Of course, don’t try to do anything to get rid of them!
If you have any questions or comments, (a photo I can post would be great), you may send a personal email to mike@electrologynow.com
* a red-colored scab is not the same as a simple red dot without a scab. If your scab is red, that means that some blood (hemoglobin) became involved in the scab-forming process. Large red scabs may be a sign of over-treatment … but not necessarily anything that will cause skin damage. Of course, that’s another subject.