Melbourne doctors

[PinkE]

Hi there,
I was wondering if anyone had seen Dr Phil Bekhor in Melbourne? I saw him yesterday and he recommended six months of tetrex before he'd consider doing any laser on my skin. I believe he uses V-beam or PDlaser. He also prescribed Stieva A which I'm terrified of using because I've read so much about retinoids being bad for rosacea. I have p&ps on my chin which have resolved with minomycin but always return if I try and cut the dose. Worst thing is they return much much worse than before I began treatment.
Has anyone found a doctor (dermatologist or otherwise) that uses Lumenis here in Melbourne?
I'm new to all of this, so please let me know if I've not searched properly and this information is already available.
best regards
PinkE

[redhotoz]

Hi PinkE

Welcome to the Forum!

Percentage wise, there aren't that many Aussies on this Forum. I don't know about docs in Mebourne sorry.

Tetrex will most likely help to reduce the inflammation. I've taken it before but I can't take antibiotics anymore due to the yeast infections. I also found that when I had finished a course of antibiotics, the Rosacea beast would come back in full force. I tried for a while to do it long term, reducing the dose over time but had to stop due to the yeasties. I've read that if you can get the dose low enough, it won't kill off the good bacteria (as well as the bad bacteria) and you just retain the anti-inflammatory effect. However, when I asked my doc what exactly it was that antibiotics did to help Rosacea symptoms, he said "the mechanism of action is unknown". In fact, my Derm said the same thing! Urgh! So we are left to do the foot work ourselves.

I would be a tad worried about retinoid creams too. I have Retin-A cream here which I got a prescription for in desperation. I don't use it anymore though. For p&p you might want to get some Rynacrom (nasal spray) and dab on to the spots. It does help!

Best of luck with everything and hope you can find a way to control your Rosacea beast!

Jen

[Froggirl]

Hi

I just got a referal to Dr Bekhor yeaterday. Apperently he is the best laser specilist in Melbourne...which explains why the earliest appointment I could get was in March next year.

I did a google search and he is quite famous, always quoted in papers and tv shows..not that means he is good!

What is your rosacea like? I only have flushing and was told that Dr Bekhor was the best person to assess if laser would be able to do anything for it. I have never heard of any of the treatments he's prescibed you. I've just tried the standard things like rosex, finacea and dorxycycline.

Given that I have to wait so long I took the plunge and started having IPL with a beautican. Just by chance she acually use to work with Dr Bekhor and reaffirmed what my dermologist said about him being the best. I totally trust my GP, who has a dermologist specilty so will check what he thinks of Dr Bekhor next time i see him. I got the referal from a dermatoligist, but since he charged $140 for a five minute consultation (in which he said that my GP was doing everything anyway) i am going to stick with my GP from now on.

I really wanted to get IPL done by a dermologist but the only ones who seem to do it are the ones who have really awful reputations and who are constently up in front on the medical board for unprofessional conduct.
In the end the baeutician, or 'dermal therapist' as she calls herself, didn't seem such a bad choice. At least she has had 7 years experience, has a very good new ipl machiene and also uses the machine on her own facial redness. I'll let you know how it goes.

Maybe you could ask your GP or regular dermologist about the treatment Dr Bekhor suggested. It would be good to know exactly why he presibed those things and how exactly they might help.

[Froggirl]

Just in case anyone else from Melbourne needs it, here is the link to Doctor Bekhors website.
Has info on what kind of things he treats, what lasers he uses and estimates of prices..

http://www.lav.com.au/

[redhotoz]

I have never heard of any of the treatments he's prescibed you. I've just tried the standard things like rosex, finacea and dorxycycline.

Hi Froggirl

Tetrex is a brand name for Tetracycline, an antibiotic. Minomycin is another antibiotic. Stieva-A is a retanoid cream, basically vitamin A. Whilst vitamin A might sound harmless, it can be quite harsh on the skin. You may have read that some people take low dose Accutane, which is oral isotretinoin (vitamin A). Stieva-A (or Retin-A) creams contain tretinoin (vitamin A). This is probably a bit simplistic but gives you the general gist of it.

Hope this helps.

Jen

[Froggirl]

Thanks. Looks like there are a lot of treatments out there...i just wish i could find one that worked!

[PinkE]

Thanks to both of you for your wonderfull comprehensive answers! I had an inkling Dr B was fairly well-regarded as a laser specialist, so it's great to have that confirmed. I'm still a bit disturbed by the Steivia prescription given the warnings on retin-A type topicals, so am still deciding what to do there. I'm currently on minomycin, which works for the p&ps unless I try and taper off the dose. My first dermatologist had suggested swapping to vibratabs (doxycyclin) the last time my skin flared (she didn't explain why, as this was done over the phone via her nurse - no appointments until Novemeber type scenario). Dr B. suggested tetrex, the oldest form of tetracycline, as he said it had less side effects and was better for long term use. I'm of course pretty upset at the idea of being on it for six months, so am considering taperinig it off after a couple of months, and hoping for the best. I have definately noticed that if there is going to be a flare it happens mid or late cycle. Anyway that's probably enough from me! Thanks again for your replies, it's great to have someone to share all this with! I was wondering Froggirl could you let me know who your IPL person is and what machine they use and if you are happy with them? Given I can't see Dr B again until Feb, if I can get the p&ps under control, I'll be considering IPL.
best regards
PinkE

[Froggirl]

The IPL place is called MCF, which is suite 101, Lower Ground Floor, No.2 Collins Street, Melbourne. 9654 6365
I have had one session with Angela Davis last week. I has two session 6 months ago before i knew i had rosacea, my flushing did stop for a while after but not sure if it was the ipl or not. It's free to get a test patch done and about $100 to get full cheeks done. My face is acually calmer this week since the ipl but i have also started using zinc oxide on my face and that seems to have made a big difference too. While i'm wearing it my face seems less reactive to cold and wind.

I wrote down the machine at the time and looked it up on the internet, now i can't quite remember. It is only 9 months old so is one of the newer machienes.

Let me know how you go with the treatment Dr Bekhor prescribed, it would be good if it works. I get so impatient for this to be better but it is proably a good sign that he doesn't do laser without trying a less invasive treatment first.

[Froggirl]

Had my second IPL treatment at MCF today, the machine is the Lumenis Quantum IPL. Both times I have had a single passes of the 590 filter.
There is also a 560 filter, i considered having a pass of this filter as well but am very glad i didn't. From reading in the forum it seems the shallow filters can often make things worse, so i will be sticking to the 590 filter.

I was just looking at Dr Bekhor website again and he does do IPL as well, which is good to know.

He has the Ellipse Flex IPL:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Rosacea...r#Ellipse_Flex

[Froggirl]

Two IPL's doesn't seemed to have made a difference at all, so I am now going to wait and see one of the Melbourne doctors dermatologist who specialise in laser/IPL treatments. I really should have waited in the first place but i just got so impatient for things to improve and i couldn't seem to find a good dermatolgist with IPL and lasers.

I asked my doctor about Dr Bekhor and he confirmed that he is very very good but said that Dr Greg Goodman is proably the top of the field. So for any one else in Melb or Australia looking for a good dermatologist with lasers Greg Goodmans details are:

http://www.greggoodman.com.au/fs.cgi?page=ask.cgi

Like any industry, there are some doctors with lasers/ipls who have terrible track records. I never knew how bad until I worked in medical litigations, so please everyone, do your research. Nearly 95% of complaints against doctors concern the same 5% of doctors. So google their names, see if you get tons of publications and boards appointments, or just ad for their services. And if proceedings from the medical board against them come up...run!