Vbeam

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

I have suffered from redness of my nose and cheeks since my teenage

years (now 34), I used to have freckles in these areas but they have

gone and the redness is there permanantly made worse from cold, heat,

exercise, showering, sun, wind, spicey food etc.

Tried metrogel (no improvement), oral antibiotics (no improvement),

pulse dye laser about 10 years ago for my cheeks (slight improvement

but same again now), another type of laser but cannot remember it's

name (no improvement), cosmetic tattoo 5 years ago on my nose(ouch!

no improvement), cosmetic tattoo 4 years ago lighter colour (ouch!

10% improvement but has got worse again).

I thought my options had run out but out of desperation recently

tried a steroid cream and retin A with no improvement.

Any help/ideas would be appreciated.

I would really like to read some info on the vbeam, is there anywhere

I can read about it?

Is it in the UK yet or just the US.

Thanks

[Guest guest]

Ricky,

Here are two messages I posted in the past. I save them so I can share my

V-beam experience with those who are looking for information. The first,

below, is from spring-2001, the second, below that, is from Jan 2002, the

third is an update of my status today.

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1) I have written about V-Beam quite often to this group. Many of you are

new to the group, so I will repeat what I know about V-Beam.

First, I would like to say what I believe the long-term members of this

group already know. That is, everyone is different. V-Beam may work great

for one person, and not for another. The same goes for Photoderm and all

the other treatments.

V-Beam is the 5th generation of the Pulse Dye laser (the V stands for the

roman numeral 5). V-beam sends out a gentler pulse than pulse dye.

Therefore, it does not damage the skin and there is no down time. However,

because the pulse is gentler, you may have to have a few more treatments.

The trade off is probably something like this: 3 Pulse Dye to 5 V-beam.

I had 5 V-Beam treatments for the rosacea on my nose. My rosacea consisted

of permanent redness, daily flares consisting of a hot, redder nose, and a

feeling of the nose pulsating. I did not have any " pimples " . I am now

finished with the V-beam treatments. The red is gone and my nose is back to

its natural color. My flares are just about gone. If I have one, I do not

get red and it really is more like my nose is trying to flare, but never

gets there. I can drink alcohol, have hot coffee, etc. without flaring now.

I am very pleased with the results.

I had absolutely no down time - no redness, swelling, bruising, etc. After

a treatment, you could not tell I had anything done, except the results of

the treatment are seem immediately. That is I could see my nose getting

lighter in color, and I could feel the reduction in the flares.

My doctor told me at the beginning of my treatments that V-Beam was slow to

show results. She said it usually takes 3 treatments before the improvement

begins to show on one's face. However, I saw an improvement right from the

start - even after the test spot.

Treatments are given every 6 weeks. You must stay out of the sun 6 weeks

before and 6 weeks after treatment. I play golf and do the yard work, so I

was in the sun, but I used sun screen and wore a hat. That seemed to work

fine for me.

The cost to do just my nose was $250 a treatment. My insurance did not pay.

I asked the doctor about " touch-up " treatments. She said it depended on the

person. She has some people who come back in 1 year and has others who

don't need to come back for 5 years.

She also told me to use sunscreen with 1786 Parasol on my face.

---------------------------

2) About 4 weeks after having major surgery in June, I began to flare

again. My flaring had not totally stopped prior to that, but the flaring

was not

much due to V-beam treatments. I believe I began flaring again because

after one has surgery your body works hard to heal itself. And I wonder if I

may have had an increase in blood vessel growth (my surgery was abdominal,

but I still think it affected my entire body) - and although the V-beam

technician said it had nothing to do with it, it is too coincidental for me.

Prior to that I had improvement with each V-beam treatment.

This past Nov I had another V-beam treatment. My nose seemed to flare even

more and I thought I may also be getting more nose growth. However, almost

2 weeks to the day after my treatment, the flaring subsided and my nose

seemed thinner; that is the appearance of additional nose growth was gone.

The technician told me during the Nov treatment that it does take 4 weeks

before you can really know what the treatment results are. In the past, I

saw the results immediately, so I expected that to be the case this time.

4 weeks after that treatment, when I flared, my nose was spotted - some pink

and some

perfectly normal colored skin. So, I decided to have another treatment

based on that - I figured if some spots on the skin were normal during a big

flare, I was making progress and I needed to continue treatment.

This past Monday, I went for another treatment, While I was in the waiting

room, the V-beam laser went down, so I was unable to get treated. I take a

vacation day and travel 130 miles for a treatment, so I just made another

appointment for June. I figured when the summer comes, I will need it

again, and I'm not doing badly right now - plus it is expensive.

The V-beam has been very good for me. It greatly reduced my flares and 100%

took away permanent redness I had on my nose (my nose is the only place I

have rosacea).

--------------

3. Today (March 2002) it is rare that I flare. I do have a small flare

when I have an alcholic drink, but it is hardly noticable. I still have no

redness on my nose. Summer here, in Georgia, is hot, so who knows what will

happen then. I may need to go back for another treatment, I'll see. I think

I'll try the Gold Bond if I begin to flare in the heat and see what that

does. If it cools down my nose when I use it, I will just stick with that.

Lastly, I have not noticed any increase in nose growth for sometime now.

I am very pleased with my progress. I rarely think of rosacea anymore. I

know that is a state we all strive for, and I hope you all can get to that

state one day.

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Hope this is helpful to you.