Difference between v-beam and IPL?

[RedFacedRedHead]

Dr. Nase-

I've gone through your book, and searched all the posts I can find in the Yahoo group as well as this forum (and tried posting this on the IPL board as well). What is the difference between v-beam and IPL? I have flushing and burning, lots of P&P (greatly helped by Noritate, actually) and my derm recommended "vascular laser" with a former colleague of hers from Boston University Medical Center (Thomas Rohrer) as apparently I'm not a candidate for any of the other oral treatments due to having Crohn's disease. I already take grape seed extract, ester C, and pycnogenol daily (working up to 200 mg pycnogenol and grape seed, 1000 mg ester C daily).

My derm indicated that the vascular laser would be better for the flushing. However, I have a friend who's had IPL for her rosacea and she thought that was better (performed by an aesthetician, not a derm). I'm at a loss as to which to pursue. I don't want to make things worse, but I know that laser's the best way to go.

So, long story short, what's the difference between IPL and v-beam? Can you say which is "better"?

Thanks so much!

[drnase]

Are you taking any of the new medications for Crohns disease. There is a correlation between Crohns disease exacerbations and rosacea flares, so please also focus on that.

In general, the V-beam is better and quicker for telangiectasia and mild background redness.

In general, IPL is better for diffuse redness and flushing (but only if used iwth more than one wavelength (V-beam only has one wavelength so it only treats one level of blood vessels.

[RedFacedRedHead]

Hi Dr. Nase,

Thanks so much for the response! It's very helpful :)

I'm still on the "old" Crohn's meds - Pentasa (2000 mg/day), Imuran )200 mg), Prilosec. I've been on these pretty constantly for about 4 years now and they've kept me in remission. The new ones didn't work well for me (Remicade was good for a flare up but that was years ago and I only did the 3 transfusions of it; cyclosporine put my blood pressure through the roof and I was getting far too many infections on it). My GI wasn't sure if the meds were affecting anything, but the derm I saw didn't seem to think so.

I do take Verapamil for chronic migraines (allergic to Inderal, and the low dose antidepressants didn't work for me), and I also take birth control pills. Again, though, I've been on these for years - nothing new about them. I'd love to get off the Verapamil, but I can't take 20 days of migraines in every 30 days.

My concern is that the flushing and burning are getting worse rather than better. I have flushing across both cheeks and my nose; sometimes it goes up to my forehead as well. Especially if I'm in a warm area, or if I get really riled up/upset due to stress. Blow drying my hair makes my face completely red and burn (which is rather frustrating, as I'm sure you can imagine). I do have one or two "permanent" red spots (about the size of a quarter) on either side of my nose, almost at the apples of my cheeks. Would those red spots be background redness?

I do have the telangiectasia along my cheeks and the edges of my nose, along with a lot of P&P (the P&P are much improved by Noritate).

It sounds like the two can work in conjunction with one another - if the v-beam didn't clear up the flushing that I could do IPL to treat that part of it, or I could start with IPL for the flushing/burning and then use the v-beam to treat the telangiectasia. Is that accurate? From what I've said above, would you recommend starting with v-beam or IPL?

Thanks again!

Jen