Reyuva Hair Transplant Center, C - 63, Preet Vihar, Vikas Marg, Delhi - 92, India. (Opp. Pillar no. 78). Ph: + 91 11 35535498, M: +91 9810609643, Email: reyuva@gmail.com
Electrolysis is the oldest technique of permanent Hair Removal. It is time tested and still is the only recognized technique which is 100% successful. It is the only technique which is successful on the white hairs or is successful on the black skin.
Electrolysis Hair Removal – The Only Truly Permanent Method
There are three ways of doing electrolysis of the hairs for the permanent hair removal.
Galvanic method or Direct current method - in this technique direct current is applied to the root of the hair. The patient holds the negative electrode while the positive electrode is inserted into the hair follicle. The current when passes through the water and salt (NaCl) in the hair root, it gets dissociated into sodium, hydroxide ions, chlorine and hydrogen.
Electrolysis of aqueous NaCl solutions gives a mixture of hydrogen and chlorine gas and an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution (lye). The water when reactions with electric current produces OH ions. 2H2O(l) + 2e– ==> H2(g) + 2OH-(aq) which react with the Na+ ions to form NaOH (Lye). The highly alkaline nature of the lye destroys the germinal layers of the hairs present at the hair root and prevents the regrowth of the hairs.
The chemical reaction that occurs is
electrolysis | ||
2 NaCl(aq) + 2 H2O(l) | 2 Na+(aq) + 2 OH-(aq) + H2(g) + Cl2(g) |
The hairs are permanently removed. The disadvantage is that it is time consuming as it may require 2 to 5 minutes for the complete electrolysis cycle to complete.
Thermolysis method or Shortwave diathermy method or radio-frequency method - in this technique alternating current is passed through the needle which heats up the needle inserted into the root of the hair. A fine wire probe is used to transmit radio waves to tissues near the probe.Radio Frequency Diathermy (The therapeutic generation of local heat in body tissues by high-frequency electromagnetic currents) or Short Wave Electrolysis. Molecules within the tissue are caused to vibrate which lead to a rapid increase of the temperature, causing coagulation (to change or be changed from a liquid into a thickened mass: egg white coagulating when heated; blood clotting over the wound) of the proteins within the follicle, effectively killing the follicle. The heated needle produces bubbles of the water which loosens the root and kills the germinative cells of the hair root to produce removal of the hairs.
Blend method or combination method - Galvanic and thermolysis are often combined in a method known as blend, developed by Arthur Hinkel in 1948, which uses both RF and direct current, combining many of the advantages of galvanic and thermolysis. This is a blend or a combination of Galvanic Electrolysis and Thermolysis methods. Blend electrolysis kills hairs chemically just like galvanic electrolysis but it takes only a few seconds to kill each hair. It works on coarse hairs and fine hairs equally well, although it involves more pain than thermolysis.
Procedure
The procedure involves inserting the needle precisely into the hair pore where it should be directed correctly into the direction, angle and depth. Then the energy which is either thermal in thermolysis or electricity in galvanic or both is passed. The energy has to have correct combination of intensity and duration of the current, treatment energy is defined as the intensity x duration of the delivered current. The purpose is to deliver adequate current (intensity) for a sufficient time (duration) to destroy the growing portion of the hair follicle. When electrolysis is undertaken in a correct manner, no resistance should be felt when the hair is removed with gentle forceps traction. The hair bulb should be present. If the hair does not come out easily with gentle forceps traction then it is being plucked rather than destroyed by electrolysis.