Re: Stopping By and an Update

[Guest guest]

Hi --I understand your frustrations, as do many others. While

photoderm has helped me immensely, I have pretty much given up on the

notion that the battle will ever be over for me. I still battle

flushing, particularly for a few weeks after each treatment.

Even so, my condition is so much better and **I do not think any of

my money was wasted**. It has greatly improved the quality of my skin

since the treatments (hydrated, smooth, etc) and I receive

compliments for that. The permanent redness is greatly reduced, and

my skin rarely feels irritated anymore. However, I have not gotten

to the point where I would be comfortable going out without makeup. I

really feel for men with this condition, if they are not comfortable

using any type of concealer.

I wonder if the key with IPL treatments isn't to start the treatments

before your condition becomes severe. I'd be curious to compare the

satisfaction rate for IPL patients who started early as opposed to

those (like me) who didn't undertake treatment until the redness was

severe.

[Guest guest]

Hi --I understand your frustrations, as do many others. While

photoderm has helped me immensely, I have pretty much given up on the

notion that the battle will ever be over for me. I still battle

flushing, particularly for a few weeks after each treatment.

Even so, my condition is so much better and **I do not think any of

my money was wasted**. It has greatly improved the quality of my skin

since the treatments (hydrated, smooth, etc) and I receive

compliments for that. The permanent redness is greatly reduced, and

my skin rarely feels irritated anymore. However, I have not gotten

to the point where I would be comfortable going out without makeup. I

really feel for men with this condition, if they are not comfortable

using any type of concealer.

I wonder if the key with IPL treatments isn't to start the treatments

before your condition becomes severe. I'd be curious to compare the

satisfaction rate for IPL patients who started early as opposed to

those (like me) who didn't undertake treatment until the redness was

severe.

[Guest guest]

Hi --I understand your frustrations, as do many others. While

photoderm has helped me immensely, I have pretty much given up on the

notion that the battle will ever be over for me. I still battle

flushing, particularly for a few weeks after each treatment.

Even so, my condition is so much better and **I do not think any of

my money was wasted**. It has greatly improved the quality of my skin

since the treatments (hydrated, smooth, etc) and I receive

compliments for that. The permanent redness is greatly reduced, and

my skin rarely feels irritated anymore. However, I have not gotten

to the point where I would be comfortable going out without makeup. I

really feel for men with this condition, if they are not comfortable

using any type of concealer.

I wonder if the key with IPL treatments isn't to start the treatments

before your condition becomes severe. I'd be curious to compare the

satisfaction rate for IPL patients who started early as opposed to

those (like me) who didn't undertake treatment until the redness was

severe.

[Guest guest]

One more thing...I would not give up hope for greater research for

this condition leading to more effective treatments or even possibly

a cure. Sure, rosacea is not a life threatening condition, but it

drastically impacts the quality of life for many of the 13 million

sufferers in the US alone.

I know there are many here who only consider this condition a minor

nuisance, and these people should consider themselves blessed. They

should also realize that the picture can change for them literally

overnight, as it did for me and so many others.

The instance of rosacea appears to be on the rise and already affects

many prominent people. (I can only tell you that, working in an

office of only about 25 people, I've seen 6 others develop rosacea in

just the last year and a half.) This may well be due to environmental

changes, technological advances as well as all the garbage they put

in the foods we buy. I would not be surprised to see the numbers

grow dramatically and actually hope to see more prominent people

impacted so they can lobby for change as they do for other causes. I

just wish people like Bill Clinton and Cameron would lend their

names to the cause.

Anyway, I have to think that, just by virtue of the number of

sufferers, the pharmaceutical companies would be looking for a cure.

Any company that develops a truly effective product will have landed

a true cash cow.

> Haven't stopped in here for a while but just wanted to post an

> update. I joined the group quite a while back and tried so many of

> the hopeful remedies along with many members of this group. Had

eight

> photoderm treatments, V-beam treatments, versapulse treatments and

> diode laser treatments. It's easily been over $10,000 worth of

laser

> treatments so far.

>

> The photoderm & laser treatments showed good promise after about 4

> treatments. My skin continued to improve some during the remaining

> treatments too. But it's only been about four months since my last

> treatments and my skin is already starting to return to it's old

> condition. It's still better, but moving backwards again.

>

> In my opinion the laser treatments only treat the symptoms, and do

> not treat the underlying cause. In my case who knows what that

cause

> is, I've tried it all: Diet control, topicals, oral medications,

> lasers.... nothing cures it. A few things help to control it, a

> little bit, for a while. Plexion Wash (prescription) helped me a

lot

> for a while but even that has reduced results now.

>

> Here is something else I noticed. cea comes & goes no matter

what

> you do. I can follow all the guidelines and avoid all the

triggers;

> during that time my skin will go through cycles of good and bad. I

> can live life almost care-free, enjoy all kinds of foods & outdoor

> activities, and my skin will still go though cycles of good and

bad.

> Exactly the same.

>

> That explains to me why so many people say a product seems to help

> them for a while, and then their skin becomes troublesome again, or

> they think they have a bad reaction to it when it helped them

before.

> All doctors have told me that, cea comes & goes. That's the

> nature of the beast.

>

> And what a beast it is, I don't think there is anything we can do

to

> cure it. We can only try to control it somewhat though the

> established guidelines. Not very encouraging. Try to do the best

we

> can and not let it keep us from a normal life. At least not too

much.

>

> I wish I had a more positive update to post but that's the way it

is.

> It's no wonder so many people in this group are still here and

> desperate to find some kind of relief. It feels impossible. And

with

> more serious, life-threatening diseases out there to get all the

> attention and research, I don't think we're going to see much

> progress in the cea area.

>

> If someone thinks they have found a cure, there are many of us

> waiting for it right here.

[Guest guest]

I'll certainly agree with you about the number of people affected

with cea. I see it around here too. But I believe most of the

medical industry and the pharmaceutical companies feel that the

majority of patients are finding effective relief from Metrogel and

similar products. And from Antibiotics in more severe cases.

Did you hear the radio commercials about it some months back? They

were on the air often here in Los Angeles on the news stations. They

talked about how it was more common than people realized, but that it

was very easy to treat. " Just see your doctor for the prescription " .

They made it sound like there was really nothing to it.

I don't know, maybe the majority of patients out there really are

finding Metrogel to be effective. But obviously not the people here

in this Yahoo group. Until that perception changes, I doubt we'll see

much progress. They have to come to the realization that those

products are just not cutting it for people.

> One more thing...I would not give up hope for greater research for

> this condition leading to more effective treatments or even

possibly

> a cure. Sure, rosacea is not a life threatening condition, but it

> drastically impacts the quality of life for many of the 13 million

> sufferers in the US alone.

>

> I know there are many here who only consider this condition a minor

> nuisance, and these people should consider themselves blessed. They

> should also realize that the picture can change for them literally

> overnight, as it did for me and so many others.

>

> The instance of rosacea appears to be on the rise and already

affects

> many prominent people. (I can only tell you that, working in an

> office of only about 25 people, I've seen 6 others develop rosacea

in

> just the last year and a half.) This may well be due to

environmental

> changes, technological advances as well as all the garbage they put

> in the foods we buy. I would not be surprised to see the numbers

> grow dramatically and actually hope to see more prominent people

> impacted so they can lobby for change as they do for other causes.

I

> just wish people like Bill Clinton and Cameron would lend

their

> names to the cause.

>

> Anyway, I have to think that, just by virtue of the number of

> sufferers, the pharmaceutical companies would be looking for a

cure.

> Any company that develops a truly effective product will have

landed

> a true cash cow.

[Guest guest]

Just to put my two cents in about the topical RX products that we are so

frequently prescribed. Noritate did nothing for me. I only wish it had. I

am curious as to how effective the majority of us find the noritate/metro

precription medications to be. If it were only that easy!

By-the-way, hello everybody. I'm still around. Merely listening lately.

Also, someone recently asked if people have used/are using the a/r creme and

what they think of it. Yes, I'm still using it and it's the only thing that

has worked for me to treat/diminish the papules.

~~~Beth~~~