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View Full Version : What Are Before/After Pics Really Worth?


Max
16th June 2005, 01:37 PM
Some Pros:

+) seening a lot of them in docs office for sure means a proof that he has treated rosaceans.

+) tells us he's doing some kind of documentation


Some Cons:

-) i promise you i can do before/after pics where you'll see great success every single day. without faking anything. it just takes two shots, one maybe around midday after dinner (where it might be worse) and one late at night (everythings calmed down here). i again promise you that will look exciting:)

-) how many before/after pics pairs will there be? i'm pretty sure we'll only be shown these that look impressive. did anyone of you ever see before/after pics showing no progression? i didn't


what would be really nice instead of this: having the doc shown his own statistics. e.g.:
"i've had 180 patients that have been diagnosed with rosacea, complained about heavy flushing and had permanent redness. 105 of them are now considering themself symptom free, 40 said laser treatments showed great improvment, 35 said it didn't help them". and i'd like to read some "patient storys".

some years ago i was at a doc having two laser treatments. when i first came there i was pretty pale-faced. had full face treatment. after two month i came back, had tried elidel some weeks ago, which caused great outbreak, was still very red. he said: "wow, you look great, that v-beam really ripped out rosacea, one more and we can rest the case"...

ok, last paragraph was bit off topic.

but what i really want to stress: being in contact with people that have been treated with a doc you consider consulting is worth ten times more than all before & after pics on whole earth...

irishgenes
16th June 2005, 07:50 PM
If you can find several patients of a particular doctor on your own and ask them for their opinion of his treatment, it would really help. But if you ask the doctor to let you speak to one or more of his patients, he will steer you to the ones he knows will praise him. I did this with an orthodontist and talked to two patients who gave him glowing reviews. His treatment turned out to be a nightmare which left me with permanent damage. I'm sure I wasn't the only one, but he would never have let me talk to patients he damaged before getting me to sign the treatment contract.

tryingtogetoverit
16th June 2005, 08:10 PM
If you can find several patients of a particular doctor on your own and ask them for their opinion of his treatment, it would really help. But if you ask the doctor to let you speak to one or more of his patients, he will steer you to the ones he knows will praise him.

I agree. I consulted with a derm who showed me a lot of photos...some were awful. He said most dr's showcase their best patients, for obvious reasons. My derm said I was free to speak with anyone who left their name on a list for patients inquiring about the same procedure.
I think it's a good guideline but I need more than just photos.

Orion

drnase
17th June 2005, 06:10 AM
Biggest problem is you dont know if facial redness is improved because they are not flushing at the time or because of treatment. This wiill always be a tricky one to answer.