Mainstream Article on Blushing & ETS

[Ghost]

Since there are some posts about getting rosacea into mainstream media, I thought you'd like to read an old article from New Yorker Magazine.

http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/sadhelp/nym.htm

[Lycaon]

To be honest, I dont think that however bad things get, i could ever face ETS. Its just to experimental. I just imagine people looking back on us in 50 years time saying 'li cant believe they did that to themselves' in the way we cant imagine 'alcohol as an anaesthetic

[Ghost]

I think one of the reasons that the article appeared in The New Yorker is because ETS seems so extreme.

In a way it's the Everest of surgeries: those who have no need to do it cannot comprehend how necessary it is.

[tryingtogetoverit]

I just can't believe that even in Feb 2001 rosacea still didn't have a name.

Orion

[Ghost]

I remember the first time I heard it uttered on TV. I can't tell you what year it was, but it was the Joan Rivers Show and she had a psychic on.

She said to the psychic (this is all serious, now, not a comedy routine), "My friend just found out she has this new disease -- rosacea, is that how you say it? Will she be all right?"

I didn't hear the word on TV again until those awful commercials ran last year or so encouraging you to call for a brochure. I think it was for Metrogel.

Oh, well -- at least Joan Rivers broke the ice, for what it was worth for those three seconds. No follow-up on her friend's conditon AFAIK.

[RedHotCanuck]

If you've ever read the horror stories of ETS over at the ESFB Channel website, you would probably never ever consider it.

I spent a few hours reading and I was in utter shock.

http://www.esfbchannel.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=ETS_General
http://www.esfbchannel.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Post-ETS

And from RS...
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/rosacea-support/message/71518

[Ghost]

Gosh, maybe we need to make a "horror stories" archive for this site. It would be a public service.

[Warren]

Gosh, maybe we need to make a "horror stories" archive for this site. It would be a public service.

[[Endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy]] is more to do with blushing then rosacea, after having it you will still flush. There will always be more people at [[ESFB Channel]] forum because it deals with Excessive sweating and Facial Blushing (ESFB) and already has lots of ETS information. So anyone consideting the surgery should join that forum.

[Mermaid]

Hey everyone,

I totally agree with Warren with regards to joining other forums if you are entertaining the thought of ETS.

I had my ETS in May 2004. It did absolutely nothing for my rosacea. I was one of the lucky ones who didn't suffer complications from this surgery. Many are left with more problems than before the surgery. Side effects galore and even disfigurement.

Having said this, I would also like to add that when you have no quality of life as I did at the time, you become desperate and as a result, you make decisions and take risks that no one can understand until you've hit the bottom. Feeling such pain and vulnerability, you just instinctively want to trust the ETS doc who promises you 95% clearance of rosacea.

I would have given my right arm at the time for a cure, which of course does not exist at the moment. ETS doctors have jumped onto the rosacea bandwagon in the hope of cashing in on our disorder. It's disgraceful.

Mermaid