Can I really be asleep for the whole thing?
Yes. Our large volume electrolysis under general anesthesia keeps you completely unconscious for the entire planned treatment. Anesthesia is started with inhaled anesthetic through a mask rather than an IV, and no local numbing injections are used for electrolysis comfort. Every client completes medical screening and receives anesthesia clearance first, and you will need a supervised recovery period and a responsible adult to take you home.
Does the person who sedates me stay in the room?
Yes, for the entire treatment session. Our anesthesia and sedation practitioners do not administer your medication and then leave the clinic. They stay with you full time, monitoring you throughout treatment, adjusting or re-dosing when medically appropriate, and staying through recovery until you are discharged. This applies to general anesthesia, IV twilight sedation and oral conscious sedation alike.
What is the difference between general anesthesia and IV twilight sedation?
With general anesthesia you are completely unconscious, the anesthetic is inhaled through a mask, there is no IV for induction, and no local numbing injections are used for electrolysis comfort. With IV twilight sedation an IV is placed, you may drift in and out of sleep depending on the depth, and local anesthetic injections are still used to numb the treatment area, because sedation relaxes you but does not numb skin. IV twilight can give excellent comfort, but it does not remove needles from the day.
Is IV twilight sedation limited to one dose at the start?
Not with us. Some protocols give a single dose at the beginning, which fades as the day goes on. Ours allows one or multiple doses during treatment when medically appropriate. The number, timing and amount are determined by the anesthesia professional based on your individual response, treatment progression, medical needs and clinical appropriateness.
What is included in the Complete Comfort Protocol with oral conscious sedation?
Oral conscious sedation and anxiety medication, prescription topical numbing cream, local lidocaine numbing injections and ProNox nitrous oxide gas. It is available for face, body and genital electrolysis. You stay awake and able to communicate the entire time.
How much will my treatment cost?
It depends on the areas you want treated, how much hair there is, the comfort level you choose, how many electrologists you need and how many visits your timeline allows, so we quote every plan individually.
Send us your details through our contact form and we will reply with a written estimate covering the hours, the number of visits and the full cost before you commit to anything.
How much can actually be done in one day?
Up to 21 combined electrologist-hours with three electrologists working at the same time for up to seven hours each, or 30 combined hours across two consecutive days with IV twilight sedation. Combined electrologist-hours are the total treatment time performed by all electrologists, which is not the same as the number of hours you spend under sedation or anesthesia.
Is electrolysis or laser better for transgender hair removal?
For most people it is not a choice between them. Electrolysis is the only method the FDA recognizes as permanent hair removal and it treats every follicle regardless of hair color, while laser is cleared for permanent hair reduction and only sees pigment. If your hair is dense and dark, laser first thins the bulk quickly and electrolysis afterward clears what laser cannot see. If your hair is already light or gray, we skip straight to electrolysis.
How many sessions will I need?
If your initial clearance is estimated at around 15 combined electrologist-hours, expect roughly 3 to 4 treatment visits, or around 37 combined hours in total. If it is estimated at around 30 combined hours, expect roughly 5 to 6 visits, or around 100 combined hours. Hair density, growth cycles, treatment area, previous hair removal history and hormonal factors all move those numbers, and later visits are usually shorter as regrowth decreases.
Do I need to clear hair before genital surgery?
Yes. Surgeons require the surgical area fully cleared before vaginoplasty, phalloplasty or metoidioplasty, and many prefer electrolysis because it is permanent and removes light and gray hairs that laser misses. Your surgeon determines the exact area. If they gave you a hair removal diagram or surgical protocol, send it to us before treatment planning so we can follow those requirements exactly. Because hair grows in cycles, multiple clearings are generally required.
Do you treat FtM clients as well as MtF?
Yes. We treat forearm, thigh and abdominal donor and graft sites for phalloplasty and metoidioplasty, along with chest, back and shoulders. Every comfort and sedation option on this page is available for FtM treatment, and we build the schedule backwards from your surgery date using your surgeon’s diagram.
Does it hurt?
Electrolysis is uncomfortable, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What changes the experience is what you pair it with. Prescription numbing cream reduces surface sensation, lidocaine injections numb the area properly, patient controlled ProNox nitrous oxide takes the edge off within seconds, oral conscious sedation keeps you calm and awake, IV twilight sedation has many clients remembering little of the day, and general anesthesia means you are not present for any of it.
Do you work with people who travel to Chicago?
Most of our transgender clients come from outside Illinois. We block consecutive days and long sessions so one trip does the work of months of weekly visits at home, and consultations can be done by phone or video before you book flights. We also keep a list of hotels near the clinic at 1315 N Larrabee St.
Will insurance cover it?
Most insurers classify hair removal as cosmetic, but hair removal before gender-affirming surgery is the exception and gets approved case by case with prior authorization. We do not bill insurance directly. You pay us, we give you an itemized invoice, and your insurer reimburses you as an out-of-network claim. Get written prior authorization before you start and submit each invoice promptly.
Can I pay in installments?
Yes. We book through Vagaro, which offers Buy Now, Pay Later through Affirm at checkout. Applying takes a couple of minutes and does not affect your credit score. Rates and terms come from Affirm.
Can more than one electrologist work on me at the same time?
Yes, and that is the core of large volume electrolysis. Two electrologists working simultaneously for seven hours each is 14 combined electrologist-hours, and three is 21. Multiple areas can be treated at once, so two can work on the face while a third takes the body or a surgical preparation area.
