My son (17) had the second of three scheduled v-beam laser treatments for KPRF four days ago. They are being performed by a dermatologist in Lancaster, PA. They cost $500 per treatment (which has to be paid in advance for all three treatments) and are not covered by insurance according to his staff. The first treatment was about six weeks ago, it made his face very red for a few hours but there were no other side effects. The problem was that it also did nothing for his KPRF, the doctor may have put it on a low dosage to see if there were side effects (??). This time when my son mentioned that the first treatment did not have any effect the doctor must have really turned up the laser because when he came out of the office his cheeks and neck were a dark purple with what looked like 50 - 60 darker purple dots within that area on each cheek. Four days later the area between the dots has turned white again but the purple dots (about the size of the end of your little finger and caused by the laser pencil) are still there. I believe that they are blood blisters and hopefully they will be gone in another week. His face and neck are also very swollen. No one could prepare you for what this looks like and of course he does not want to go out in public. It had better work this time because he does not want to have the last treatment done which is due in six weeks and is two days before he goes back to school. He did say that the treatment burned a little while it was being done but it has not hurt since then. The main problem is how bad it looks, but if it works I think that he will be glad that it was done. But at this point that is the big question - if it works??

Hey,
Do you know what energy and spot size the doctor used on your son?
Has there been any success?

The first treatment 6 weeks ago was at a weak setting and did not work at all. The treatment 9 days ago was at a high setting (no they did not give us the exact power setting). Judging by the blood blisters that it left all over his face, I would say the size was the same as the eraser on the end of a pencil. The blood blisters have faded now but the KPRF is still there. We are hoping that it fades over the next few weeks but so far the results are not encouraging.

Have you seen any signs of success yet?

It has been two weeks since the laser surgery. His face has completely recovered from the surgery. He still gets red from exercise, sun, etc. but when he is inside watching tv it does look like it has faded some. It has only been two weeks and they require 6 weeks between treatments to give the skin time to heal. So I will wait another 2 weeks before coming to any conclusions.

Im delighted to hear that he has seen a bit of improvement.Ive done a good bit of research over the last year on lasers and ipl and to my knowledge its quite common to see only a slight improvement the first time.Also its common to look even redder for a few weeks after the treatments until the distroyed blood vessels disolve,its then one sees the true complection.How many treatments did they think he might need?Also how severe was the redness before treatment?

Anyway wish him well and i hope he gets on well the next time

Jer

We had to pay for three treatments up front so I believe that he is sopposed to get three. He was always pretty red and it was getting worse. Especially after exercise, then he would get bright red on his cheaks, sides of his face and neck. However, around his mouth it would stay real white. It did not blend from red to white but it was as if a line were drawn about an inch or two around his mouth, one side bright red, the other side white.

Any success yet with the V-beam?

It has been four weeks since his last treatment. I would say that it is looking pretty good. Especially since the first treatment was at such low power that it did not do anything. For basically one treatment it has done a lot. Now - most of the time he has no redness at all and the other times it is a little noticeable (at these times before the last treatment it used to get very red). I will update this thread in about two weeks because it seems to be coming back a little in the last couple of days. I am not sure if this a long term solution or a temporary solution. His next treatment is scheduled for 8/25 but since it is 2 days before school he does not want to do it then. We will either move it up a couple of weeks or try to do it around Christmas break.

I would love to see before and after pictures of your son's face? I also struggle with kprf and I'm 19 years old. I've thought about laser treatment but am very skeptical.

I glad to hear your son has had such success!! I was wondering if you could find out at what energy level (J/CM2) and what spot size the doctor used? That would be of great help!!!
Thanks so much.

I plan on calling the doctor's office this week because the last treatment was so successful that he wants to cancel the final treatment. He is not "cured" but at least for now he is 90% better than he was before the last v-beam treatment. I will ask about the size and intensity of the treatment when I call, but I doubt if they will tell me. I do not have photos and I know that he would not want me to be posting his photos on the internet. I started this thread to (hopefully) inform others with kprf about our experiences with the v-beam treatment. Now it is up to others that get the treatments to keep the thread going with their experiences, good or bad. One person having two treatments is not much to go on to make an informed decision about whether this will work for you. If more people post with their experiences then this thread will be useful.

Hi Rjoyce,
90% wow! Congratulations! I'm curious about the intensity and spot size because I had 2 treatments and I have not noticed much of anything but if your son had it at a higher energy level then I did, then I would ask my doctor for that energy level. Please, if possible, do ask about the energy level and spot size.... the dermatologist always records it so i'm sure he would be willing to tell you!
Thanks so much!

i am also very curious about those settings and your son's current condition. Does it still look like the treatment worked? It sounds like the 2 weeks after the treatment would be pretty hard to deal with due to appearance but if the results are as good as you say they are I'm sure i could manage a week or two out of the public's eye.

Either way I am extremely curious.

He is still doing pretty good. He has varsity football two-adays now. It was in the 90's today so it was a pretty good test. When he came home he was red faced but it mostly went away after about an hour or two. I think that it was a little better about two weeks ago. Now I would say he is about 80 % better than he was before the last treatment. Of course he has been out in the hot sun the last three days without a sun screen which isn't real good for kprf.

I called the doctor's office today to change his last treatment to June 2004 because he does not want to look bad for two weeks during school. I asked about the power setting but they did want to tell me. A Dermatologist experienced with v-beam treatments for kprf should know what settings to use. I had to travel about 45 miles to go to the Dermatologist that was recommended to me by my local Dermatologist. Just make sure that you find one with a lot of experience with v-beam treatments for kprf. I had to pass on a number of Dermatologists that either did not have the v-beam or had the v-beam but did not have experience treating kprf. They were willing to learn on my son and with my money but they can experiment on someone else.