Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-01-07
THE ELECTRIC NEEDLE.
Interesting Experiences Of q Woman
Who Has Used It for Years.

Who Has Used IL for Years.
''The interview with a physician ON the use
Of the electric needle for killing superhuous
hair" said woman who has practiced electro
therapeutics in Washington for eleven years.
(which was printed in TIE STAR a few DAYS
ago contains some things that must take ex-
ceptions to. I think 1 ought to be as compe-
tent to speak on the subject of the uso of cleo
tricity in medicine as any physician, as I have
devoted my whole life to the study of electrical
science, and of late years have given my time
exclusively to the application of the electric
current to the cure of disease and the removal
Of superauous hair.
''The statements take exceptions to in the
physicians talk are those regarding the alleged
to very 5se5 sv s~s in the use
that Is sometimes said to result. have treated
hundreds OF women, children and men, and /
have never found a person for whom could
not so regulate the current Of electrity as to
render the operation of pain-killing practically
uninjurious il not entireless painless. As for
injuring the skin have never seen an instance
of it. have had few female patients who
feared before the operation that they would
not be able to stand II, but on trial they did
not find it nearly as painful as they tn fought
for.
HAD ALL HIS BEARD TAKEN OFF.
''The only patient ever had break down
under the operation" the electrician continued.
was man. He was q young actor, about
twenty-three years old, and he wanted all his
beard killed in order to be able to play female
parts. His beard was so strong and dark that
all the powder and paint he could put on would
not conceal the roots of it. So he came to me,
When had taken out about five hundred hairs
he told me to stop, saying that he couldn't
stand the peculiar sensation produced by the
electric current any longer. He said if were
TO stick him with knife or hit him with club
over the head he would be able to bear it, but
he said the sensation produced by the needle
was maddening. So he said he would take q
little morphine to race him up. I tried to
dissuade him, but he assured me that he was
in the habit Of taking the drug. When he
came back began on him again, and this time
he stood the operation without wincing.
did you succeed in killing off all his beard?"
inquired the reporter.
Il got his face smooth and clear of hair
as baby's, almost" the electrician said. I" be-
fore / let him go. You could not tell that he
ever had any hair on his face"
do many men come to you to have their
boards killed in that way?" the reporter in
quired-
"'That was the only case in which killed
all a mans beard" was the answer. "A great
many men come to me to have portions Of the
beard which grow high up on the cheeks to-
been so foolish as to shave his nose had strong
growth Of hair appear on that feature, and
removed 1t for him. A great many men with
eyelashes that meet have the hairs above the
nose removed. Not long ago thinned out the
hairs in the eyebrows of prominent man here
His brows were very bushy, and the hairs so
long that they fell down almost into his eyes.
MAKING A HIGH FOREHEAD.
"Another very well-known public man whose
hair grew far down on his forehead" continued
the woman, applied to me a couple of months
ago to see if i could do anything for him. 1
took off an inch and half OF hair from temple
to temple across his forehead, and he now has
a noble brow instead of the low one which for
merly gave him a rather forbidding appear
ance. You can see no mark to indicate where
the hair was removed. The skin on his fore
head Is all as smooth as your own. performed
similar operation on boy, whose hair grew
down almost to the eyebrows"
PUT TO SLEEP By THE ELECTRIC CURRENT.
80 far is it from being true that the opera
ton of hair-killing with the electric needle is
generally painful or injurious" the speaker
resumed, after a pause, that have had chill
dren on whom / was operating go to sleep. 1t
is well known that electricity is almost spe-
eihc for nervous diseases. and is every day
coming more and more into use in medicine
taking the place of drugs. There is a lady
here from whose face, some months ago, re-
and since that time she has come back re-
peatedly to have me 90 over her face again.
because she finds the sensation produced by
the electric needle pleasant and bracing She
says she feels as II she had taken tonic after
the operation"
Il suppose you have some curious expert
ences with patients" suggested the reporter.
as the conversation tagged.
Il do. indeed" the electrician said after
thoughtful pause. Il sometimes feel that /
have a mission to perform so terribly do some
women take to heart the Disagreement of their
faces by growth Of hair. Only a few DAYS ago
woman came to me IN great distress, saving
that her husband had become estranged from
her because of a mustache which had appeared
on her lip. She said he stunned her as if he
hated to see her. On one occasion he told her
he did not believe she was a woman at all. The
poor woman was really in great distress and
besought me to help her. / soon had her lip
as clean as ever again, and hope her husbands
love for her has come back. Another Young
woman who came to me had got into such a
morbid state of mind from brooding on the
disagreement of her face by hair that she
actually went into Mysteries in talking about it
with me.
WHY ONE WOMAN LIKED MADRID AS A RESIDENCE.
But the most curious case in my experience
Is that of a well-known society woman of Wash
mgton- A heavy mustache appeared on her
lip several years ago. 1t became SO con-
spicuous that people turned in the street to
look at 1t and she frequently was mortified be-
yond endurance by remarks on her appearance
SO loud that she could plainly overhear them.
she Travelled IN Europe good deal, but every
Plsce she went people stared at her mustache
finally she went to Spain, and at Madrid she
found that her Disagreement attracted no at.
tention, because most of the Spanish ladies
were similarly affected. She remained in
-aadrid Tor ten or twelve years only returning
TO this country recently. / removed her mus.
taehe not long ago and she is now reconciled to
America