Photoderm - benefits

June 28, 2002

Hi all,

I was sorry to read all the posts from people who have not had much

success with Photoderm. I just wanted to present myself as a

positive case of photoderm success for those who are considering this

option.

Let me make a comment first. It seems that many people use this

board when things are going badly, when they need support, help or

encouragement - which is fantastic, however, my experience is that

many people also leave the board or only check in every few months

once they have their rosacea under control (obviously there are

exceptions - myself included). Why I say this is that I have been a

member of this board since its beginning, during that time I have

read countless posts from people undergoing photoderm. Who could

forget Jim and his relentless search for photoderm success - and his

final great results, and there have been countless others. My belief

is that many of these people benefit so much from photoderm that they

initially report their positive results (as I did myself, as did Jim

and many others about 1-2 years ago) then go about their lives. As

such, sometimes we end up with a very biased (for lack of a better

work) presentation of an issue like photoderm and success. If you go

back in these messages over the past 3 years you will find many many

people who have benefited from this procedure, who have reported

their treatments in detail, their ups and downs and their successes

through their posts. My observation is that many of these people are

no longer active " posters " on this board.

So in my experience on this board, I know of many many success

stories concerning photoderm. I am one of those. It has changed my

life to the point where most times I forget that I actually have

rosacea. My derm is amazed - he said there is no way he could

diagnose me as having rosacea anymore - but we both know I do! for

those trying photoderm it is an up and down experince I had 13 +

treatments and some I saw great improvement, some moderate and some

nothing at all. It is such an imprecise procedure...that is part of

the problem. There are literally thousands of possible combinations

of settings, moreover our skin types, textures, and progression of

rosacea vary so greatly that this adds to the complex issue of

finding the perfect frequency for an individuals treatment. My Dr

has never heard of Dr Bitner, moreover he is against the concept of

using standardised filters and joules for each patient. Instead he

alternates the filters, joules for each patient during the treatment

to find the most desirable setting. For example, I have met a girl

having treatment by my doctor - she has had great results just like

me (I saw here before and now after 10 tx's and it is amazing).

However, my Dr found her skin favoured the 590 filter with joules

between 45 and 55 for maximum results, for me we have found that the

570 with joules of 60 to 65 works best. It took a while to find

this, but my dr was dilegent and worked very hard to find this

optimum level for me personally. From what I see Dr Bitner pretty

much perscribes the same procedure/rageme for all patients. We know

rosacea is individual so how could this possible work in all cases?

Tracey

PS I never had one bruise or blister in all my treatments. I had my

last tx 1 year ago and enjoy great results, actually I honestly

believe my results continue to improve.

June 28, 2002