For Matt, Sans002

[Chelsey]

Hi Matt,

Sorry, I tried replying to your private message a couple of time and for some reason I can't send the message (keeps telling me I'm not logged in even though I log in every time). Anyways, I'll send this through a normal post.

I'm 45 now and have had rosacea for 10 years. 35 used to be considered a common age for the onslaught of rosacea but it seems that more and more people in their 20's are now getting it. The good news is that you will surely benefit from the new treatments on the horizon and there is lots of hope for the future. Lots of good information on this board as well, so welcome!

Glad that you're treating your rosacea fairly agressively in the sense that you are getting vbeam treatments and are considering IPL. I have a very resistent case of rosacea and have had literally dozens of IPL treatments (I've lost count) and two years ago I had 5 vbeam treatments. I haven't had a treatment since then because I think that Red Light Therapy has helped me to maintain the benefits of the last series for a longer period of time. Having said that, I am due for a maintenance treatment (starting to flush again and my nose is growing) and I've booked an appointment for this coming Friday to see the Vbeam practitioner that I like in Toronto.

My symptoms are redness, flushing and the pain associated with flushing. When I first got rosacea I had a few p&p's but as soon as I went on tetrycyline they seemed to disappear for good. I'm lucky that way, but the flushing has been quite bad in the past. I've tried everything from a very restrictive diet, to noritate, to oral antibiotics, changed my skin care egime, etc., all of which led to varying degress of success but IPL/Vbeam has made the biggest difference to this condition for me.

Ten years ago there weren't that many choices in practitioners so I've spent a lot of money and went to some pf the pioneers such as Dr. Bitter who invented the photoderm protocol for rosacea. Also went to Dr. Finklemeir, Dr. Darm and various others. The technology was different back then and if memory serves I've had Quantum IPL treatments and Dr. Darm used the Yag attachment as well. The Vbeam is probably not the latest on the market either and I believe it's the Candela brand. I truly believe that a lot of the efficacy of the treatment has to do with the skill of the practitioner as much as the typeof device they use. Having said that, my nose hasn't responded as well to Vbeam (maybe it has to do with the fact that IPL can reach different depths of blood vessels - I'm really not sure) but when I go for my next Vbeam I will ask her to really concentrate on that area. As far as the severity of the treatments, I've never asked for purpuric setting but I might for any subsequent treatments if this one doesn't do the trick.

Hope you're having sucsses with your treatments (don't be disheartened if you don't see results right away - believe me it takes at least five treatments to really notice a difference) and be willing to try IPL or even alternate the two. Please let us know how you are doing.

Best regards!