Massachusetts?

[dardanelles]

Hi All:

I'm wondering if anyone in the Boston area has had a doctor they were particularly happy with when it comes to rosacea, or someone they've heard particularly good things about.

Over the years, I've seen 4 doctors. 1 whose name I can't remember, and Dr. Steven Shama, Dr. Jeffrey Sobell, and Dr. Ranella Hirsch. I have no complaints about any of them, but was still wondering if anyone has a doctor with a particular, specific base of knowledge regarding rosacea: of these four doctors, 2 say it's rosacea and 2 don't think so.

FYI, I once heard good things about someone named Dr. Peter Lio, but he moved to Chicago in case anyone would suggest him.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[dardanelles]

Just bumping this up...still would love to have a specific recommendation for someone in the Boston area.

[dardanelles]

Still looking...if anyone has any ideas...

[CLMN]

Still looking...if anyone has any ideas...
I too am looking for a serious rosacea specialist in Eastern or Central Massachusetts. I have tried two derms in the recent past (12/07 and earlier this month) based in the Framingham/Natick area (PM me for names and details, if desired) and neither one took my worsening rosacea problem seriously. Both prescribed topicals even though topicals always end up making my face worse after as little as 5 to 10 days of continuous use. Neither would prescribe low dose doxycycline hyclate without first going through the whole list of topicals first. Doxy has helped my father's rosacea problem tremendously this past year. Topicals never did much for him either.

If anyone knows of a derm in Massachusetts who is not reluctant to prescribe low dose doxycycline hyclate in lieu of topicals, I would greatly appreciate knowing the name. Thanks!!! hi:

C.L.M.N.

[veggie]

I have recently been prescribed MetroLotion for my face. I have not been able to find too much info on it on these threads. Is it that it doesnt work? Why the hurry to pills? I wish there was more info out there. I reluctantly started the MetroLotion about a week ago....but I am not sure what it is actually supposed to do for me. The dermo said it was to help with the redness. Well, I do not have redness all the time. My main thing is the broken capillaries on my cheeks and near my nose. I am not finding much info on that either, The dermo said to remove them I would need 1 or 2 laser treatments. Of course insurance doesnt pay for that.

[badhairday]

Hi All -
I've seen several Derms in MA - My regular Derm is Dr. Pugliese of the Dermatology Associates of Concord. His bedside manner is not great but he has been my Derm for years ,long bf rosacea. He has helped out a lot with many scary moles and other issues and finally made the diagnosis of rosacea. He had no problem prescribing Doxy and also listens when I bring in my ideas of things to try - topicals etc... I will say that he doesn't think too far out of the box and I'm not entirely sure how sensitive he is to how handicapping rosacea can be but he has helped me. I have done 8 IPLs with him that have been very successful - I will say that my rosacea was mild to moderate before starting the IPL - he was VERY cautious with the settings and only did a double pass in the last session. I am very happy with the results and had very little down time.

I also went to see Dr. Jeffrey Dover of Skincare Physicians of CHestnut Hill. I really liked him and he absolutely listened and knew a lot about rosacea plus his specialty is lasers. I went to him to discuss the Vbeam as Dr. Pugliese will only do IPL on my rosacea as he feels strongly that Vbeam is for visible veins (I just had redness). I will probably go back to him for rosacea issues as I feel that he seemed to know the most and really seemed to understand rosacea skin.

Sorry for the long winded responses - good luck - I know how difficult it can be. I've probably seen 10 Derms in the MA area over the past 2 years! Good Luck! Jen hi:

[CLMN]

I have recently been prescribed MetroLotion for my face. I have not been able to find too much info on it on these threads. Is it that it doesnt work? Why the hurry to pills?
I guess that last question was directed to me. hi:

I have tried both MetroGel and MetroLotion (among several other topicals) many times over the past 10-15 years. Neither did much for me long-term but your mileage may vary. The main issue with me is that I cannot tolerate any topical for very long. Eventually, all topicals end up doing more harm than good on my particular problem and skin type.

So after 10-15 years of worsening rosacea and being prescribed a bunch of useless topicals, I finally turned to self-prescribed Doxy (based on excellent results this past year on my father's life-long rosacea). The results on my face are already amazing and exceeding my wildest expectations. I intend to post a full report in a few more weeks... but I can already see that the "Santa Claus" redness is way down and the facial pain I've suffered for years is almost 100% GONE!!! grin:

So if 10-15 years on near useless topicals constitutes a rush to pills... label me guilty as charged!!! yes:

C.L.M.N.

[veggie]

I guess that last question was directed to me. hi:

I have tried both MetroGel and MetroLotion (among several other topicals) many times over the past 10-15 years. Neither did much for me long-term but your mileage may vary. The main issue with me is that I cannot tolerate any topical for very long. Eventually, all topicals end up doing more harm than good on my particular problem and skin type.

So after 10-15 years of worsening rosacea and being prescribed a bunch of useless topicals, I finally turned to self-prescribed Doxy (based on excellent results this past year on my father's life-long rosacea). The results on my face are already amazing and exceeding my wildest expectations. I intend to post a full report in a few more weeks... but I can already see that the "Santa Claus" redness is way down and the facial pain I've suffered for years is almost 100% GONE!!! grin:

So if 10-15 years on near useless topicals constitutes a rush to pills... label me guilty as charged!!! yes:

C.L.M.N.

Sorry if that sounded harsh. You had said that the doctors wanted to try topicals first...too me I guess that would be the first option. I am not someone that wants to take pills....so I personally would try other methods first. I didnt see anything about trying the topicals for a long period of time in the original posting. I guess we all need to find what works for our own symptoms...and our own pace. I hope you find what helps you.

[CLMN]

Sorry if that sounded harsh. You had said that the doctors wanted to try topicals first...too me I guess that would be the first option. I am not someone that wants to take pills....so I personally would try other methods first. I didnt see anything about trying the topicals for a long period of time in the original posting. I guess we all need to find what works for our own symptoms...and our own pace. I hope you find what helps you.
No problem at all. If topicals work for you... and especially if you prefer them to a pill or two a day... that's great!

Just a brief update on my Doxy experiment: While the improvements in my appearance continue to be nothing short of amazing, some of my facial pain has returned. I should have explained in the beginning that there were two distinct facial pain issues; one likely related to my rosacea and the other most likely related to nerve damage from an infection and botched root canal several years ago. Initially, the Doxy seemed to have attacked both problems... however the evidence is now clear that the underlying nerve damage problem is still there (albeit no longer aggravated by the rosacea problem/pain). I hope that makes sense.

Only apparent side effect so far is occasional joint pain (remember that I am 59 years old - it could be something else)... but I am more than willing to live with that for the sake of a dramatically improved complexion.

C.L.M.N.

[skwpt]

My first post, but I thought I'd jump right in.

Valori Treloar (http://www.integrativedermatology.com/bio.html) is an excellent physician. She practices integrative medicine, so her approach is a holistic one.

Her manner is brisk, but she is thorough.

Contact info:

1172 Beacon Street, Suite 402
Newton, MA 02461
617-558-5580

I have moderate rosacea (redness without the P&P), which I control almost exclusively with diet, so I don't know her stance on experimental treatments. If you are well researched and can even produce peer-reviewed studies, I am sure she will listen with an open mind.

[bpetit]

Hi Everyone
This is my first post. I am 41, i have a daughter with a rare autoimmune disorder called juvenille dermatomyositis, long story short, her immune system attacks her skin cells and muscle cells. My problem is me right now, but i wonder if there is a faulty skin gene here at work in my family! I've had a dime sized blotch on my face, over 2 years, they said perioral dermatitis last year and gave me some sulfacetamide lotion, never worked, just went away after about 7 mo's. Now all of a sudden, i have this red rash around my lip, chin and it's almost symmetrical, it looks like a burn, no raised acne type anything, no spider looking anything, and they said rosacea. I was on tetracycline for 2 weeks then they changed me to doxycycline just last week and added the metro cream. This cream scaled my skin horribly, i looked terrible, now it burns, itches, and is spreading down my neck in quarter sized red blotches. I'm not convinced it's rosacea and my derm is a bit of a jerk - i waited 2 1/2 hours for him to throw the doxy pills at me and usher me out the door with the rosacea diagnosis, ANY help appreciated, please email me direct at lilac94@comcast.net - the itchy burning is killing me.....never mind looking for a bag to hide my face in!