Questions for laser-resistant cases like myself...

[todmiller]

I recently have my 4th treatment with the Lumenis One, but the chronic redness on my cheeks persists. So I've been thinking a lot about what I might do to make subsequent treatments more successful.

1) Would thermage work for chronic redness? My theory is that I am resistant because the red vessels are too deep for even the 640 filter wavelength to reach. I don't know how deep thermage removes skin though, but it might be the only way to get to my persistent vessels.

2) If IPL is attracted to blue, would it be possible to inject some sort of blue solution into my cheeks first? Just a thought. I honestly can't think of a reason why any doctor would be willing to do this.

3) How can you tell if you are making progress, but it will take 20 or so treatments before clearing the redness? And should I even expect the redness to go away completely?

Thank you.

[icuraus_cat]

1. Thermage is for winkles, not for redness. Even though a doctor may say that it is safe as long as it is used at low energy level, you may not want to take a risk of loosing facial fat (and looking older). And, people report that thermage is quite painful.

2. Did your doc use multiple passes to treat different levels?

3. I read from some postings that Genesis Yag can penetrate deeper and therefore very effective, especially for flushing.

4. Do you have other skin disorder such as seb derm or eczema?

Just some thoughts. Have a nice week! 8)

[IowaDavid]

Are you inducing a preflush? I've found I get the best out of treatments when I'm really flushed beforehand (my last treatment was with a new laser; I was so red beforehand my doctor looked a bit concerned, so he took it easy on the energy settings. I'll have him turn it up next time, though. I really want to zap these things....:twisted: ) If you can, stack multiple triggers on top of one another so you activate the thermoregulatory vessels and get them dilated, and something like topical Nioxin for the superficial vessels. I was a little worried about the Nioxin, but it's not terrible. Certainly nothing more than a bad flush--and I've had so many of those, it's old hat. ;)

You may also try getting on a macrolide antibiotic if you aren't already. They have a better antiangiogeneic effect than the cycline antibiotics.

David