Why isnt IPL Recognised?

[Bob Bear]

Just curious. I went to see my GP to discuss my rosacea problem. I mentioned that I'd had IPL treatments and that they'd helped significantly, but he claimed that any genuine treatment worth its salt would be on the NHS. Well, I did wonder!

So, any ideas why laser treatments are yet to make an appearance on the NHS? It seems pretty crazy that we have to pay all this money for treatments that we need!

btw, Im on about in the UK.

[todmiller]

I believe that IPL is not mentioned on the NHS because, well, nobody who is pro-IPL is paying the NHS for such advertisement.

[Bob Bear]

Hmmm, Im not sure I understand you. I was (maybe naively) under the impression that proven medicines and surgery's were provided by the NHS, is that not the whole point of it? Do you think that the reason this treatment isnt NHS is something to do with the IPL Dr's wanting to make big money?

Just to clarify Im talking about the 'National Health Service' here in the UK.

Bob Bear the NHS consider rosacea to be a cosmetic problem and IPL a cosmetic procedure, therefore they do not offer it. They do offer pulse dye laser to people who have significant facial disfigurements such as port wine birthmarks or very obvious thread veins <-------- even then it a maybe.

I'm not sure why yr surprised by this. if you consider how overstretched the NHS is anyway i think most people would agree that the main money should be being spent on life saving treatment and not asthetic treatments.

Personally i don't mind at all paying for my treatment but i would much prefer that it was treatment that actually worked and not a procedure 'that might just help but no promises' :roll:

[Bob Bear]

Hi Sally,

No its not that at all. I was happy to pay for a good Dr to perform IPL on me (well I was happy afterwards at least!).

The reason I bought up this matter was this - my GP has been trying to convince me that IPL is a scam and that my IPL Dr is a 'cowboy'. He claims that if IPLwere genuine then it would be offered by NHS.

And to be honest he has a point. Stretched or not, its the responsibility of the NHS to at least recognise medical problems and attempt to provide some kind of treatment. I consider my rosacea to be a genuine physical disorder, so I dont see why it isnt recognised as so?

I wouldnt mind, but its as if my GP and my private Dr are indirectly in conflict with each other. Im have to 'explain' to my GP why I chose to have IPL, and I then have him tell me it was not a wise decision. But he then tries to tell me I dont even have rosacea!

Well, to cut a long story short Im very frustrated with the whole fiasco. I think it would be a hell of a lot more straight forward if the NHS would at least acknowledge that IPL is a legit treatment. At least this way it would be like we're all working together rather than against each other.

I think the difference between you and i is that i came to the decision an age ago that i knew a lot more about treating my rosacea than my doctor. If i want antibiotics to treat an infection i go to my doc, if i have back pain i go to my chiropractor, if i want relief from my flushing i go see my IPL practitioner and if i want some therapy i go see my hynotherapist.

Sometimes you can't expect to find everything under one roof.

[Bob Bear]

I think that is a very realistic approach to take. To a greater extent I also subscribe to such a view.

However, the problems arise when you try to get prescriptions for 'not recognised' meds. I tried to get a trial prescription of Moxonidine from my GP with no luck. When I asked I told him that this med had been recommended by my IPL practioner - and thats how it all got started!

Unfortunately I dont know enough to 'fight my corner' on issues like this. I mean, I cant explain how these treatments and meds work to the degree that my Dr wants to hear. I think he has it that Iv been to some dodgy witch doctor and now Iv got a shopping list :wink:

To be fair to the guy I do respect his take on it. He sees in me a young guy with no immediantly obvious signs of rosacea, talking about lasers and hypertension drugs - its hardly supprising that he cant take me seriously.

And that would be perfectly alright if i didnt need access to his sweaty cupboard! I mean, now I have to (try to) explain to this guy why i want to try Klonopin - something tells me this isnt going to be successful.

Aaaah, in that context i now entirely understand.

I wouldn't know because i don't take any meds for it. they did try to palm me off with metrogel and a tetracycline once but those would help not a jot with the flushing so i think i have them stored away somewhere, now very much out of date! :wink:

Not that i want to put ideas in yr head but many meds we need are available off the internet, although i'm not sure Moxonidine is one of them as it seems to be a newer generation of antibiotic, they much prefer handing out the old formulations. Also i'm quite glad he is not wanting to give you Klonopin as that can be highly addictive if you start using it too often.

I think you are on a bit of a losing streak here with this doc so i guess you could try another or else if yr IPL doc is Dr Patterson i think he is able to write you out a script himself.

[Bob Bear]

Yeh my IPL Doc is Patterson actually. Im aware that he can write scripts, and I might end up taking advantage of this.

Id like to try Klonopin for one off occassions. Im a sensible responsible person and I know that I can keep it WELL within the limits. The way i see it is that if I can use this for issolated social events, buisness meetings etc, then that would probably amount to once or twice a month.

btw, How are these meds avaliable on the net? I figured some shady types might be selling dodgy versions of drugs, but I was unaware that you could buy this stuff legit? Id be interested in hearing about that if you'd be kind enough to enlighten me (feel free to PM me about it, Id really appreciate your advice :) (.