Haslehurst Electrolysis Clinic : What is Electrolysis 1

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What is Electrolysis?

The field of electrolysis was introduced by an American ophthalmologist, Charles Eugene Michel, M.D., from St. Louis, Missouri, USA. In 1875 Dr. Michel's findings were reported to the medical profession, when he published his first scientific paper on the subject in the St. Louis Clinical Record, October, 1875, 2:145- 148. He described the the successful removal of ingrown eyelashes, which could lead to blindness, using the agent electricity to perform electrolysis. To perform electrolysis Dr. Michel inserted a needle into the hair follicle. The needle was connected to a six cell Groves battery, to produce a galvanic current and thereby caused the electrochemical decomposition of the hair papillae. Dr. Michel continued to use the technique, recommending it for use in removing hair from other parts of the body, in particular "the partial growth of the beard on the face of females" (COPE).
The technique of electrolysis was soon taken up by other specialists in the medical profession. Also working in St. Louis, Missouri, the dermatologist Dr. W.A. Hardaway began using electrolysis to treat his patients, publishing a paper describing his own findings in the Transactions of the American Dermatological Association, 1878, 4:337-340. Clearly, electrolysis provided a useful medical procedure for treating patients with diseases of the hair.
As interest in electrolysis for cosmetic enhancement developed, so did the need for more sophisticated equipment. In the last decades of the nineteenth century, Mr. Dan Mahler ran an electrolysis practice. He established an electrolysis equipment firm, the Instanton Company, which continues to operate today. Also instrumental in the promotion of lay electrolysis was Paul N. Kree, of New York, New York, USA. He developed the multiple needle technique for galvanic electrology in 1916 and founded the Kree School of Electrology. The galvanic current technique was effective, but slow and tedious to perform.

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