So yesterday I took a trip to the dermatologist to discuss vbeam treatments for my kprf. At the clinic, they have vbeam, ipl, photodynamic therapy and other stuff. This doctor had 30 years experience with lasers and he recommended a relatively new laser made by Fraxel, he said its better than vbeam. He said in one to two treatments, he believes up to 50% of the redness and thick skin can be treated. I found this very odd because I thought vbeam was the best. Also he said the Fraxel laser had no downtime unlike vbeam. The Fraxel laser is like a skin resurfacing laser and Ive read that its primarily used for sun spots and acne scars so I dont know if it is going to work. So Im in a desperate mood right now so I think im gonna go through with it. $550 is alot, but Im willing to try new things. Im only 20 and I cant have this ruining my social life any more. Has anyone ever heard of this laser? What do you guys think?

Hi Dick

Just looked on their site: http://www.fraxel.com/what-fraxel-treats.cfm

and it says that it treats the following:

After several years of studies and mounting evidence of the Fraxel® Laser's safety and effectiveness, the FDA has cleared this unique new laser to treat the following conditions:

Acne Scars
Age Spots/Brown Spots
Melasma (Mask of Pregnancy)
Wrinkles Around The Eyes


I have flicked throught he patient testimonials and before and after photos and not one of them mentions treatment for redness. Also the general blurb only talks about correcting 'pigmentation' such as age spots. Can the dermatologist provide you with before and after photos for patients who sought treatment for facial redness?

I personally know the vbeam works for redness but the downtime can be a problem.

Just checked another provider that offers both vbeam and fraxel - link is:

http://www.skin1.com/lasertreat.htm -it summarises what lasers treat what as follows:

LASER TREATMENT
Laser Hair Therapy - Treatment for thinning hair and balding


Fraxel Laser Treatment – The most effective no-down-time laser treatment available for wrinkles, brown spots and anti-aging


V-Beam Laser: for Face Veins, Rosacea,and other Vascular Lesions


IPL : Intense Pulsed Light (Photo-Facial)
Photo-Rejuvenation, for Sun Damage, Skin Discoloration & Improvement of Skin Texture


CoolTouch Laser for wrinkles and scars


Smoothbeam Laser for acne and acne scars


Gentlelase Laser for hair removal

It would seem that vbeam is really what you should be looking at for facial redness however I am no derm but for $550 I would probably want to ask a few more questions as to why this is recommended over vbeam and what articles and or before and after photos show it is affective for treating facial redness.

Good Luck

Yeah I know Anne, at the consultation I asked about 50 questions and he answered all of them. The dermatologist also said that he had one of his own Fraxel treatments because he had a red/ ruddy complexion and he saw erythema improvement of about 35% after one treatment which I found interesting. He claims Fraxel is the ticket. I honestly dont think he would have any type of agenda for this laser- especially because he has a whole arsenal of lasers to choose from and he said the new Fraxel laser is putting his ipl and vbeam out of business. I did see some before and after photos at the consultation, none of which were bad facial redness, but some of large purple/red acne scars where the skin was almost returned to normal color. He says that in order for vbeam to be effective you need to be bruised and swollen up. I go to college and the last thing I need is to be bruised and swollen up for 10 days. Im already a little crazy, I think that would send me to an asylum lol.
One thing he said about the Fraxel laser is that by resurfacing the skin you promote new collagen buildup and layers of inflammation in the skin can be reduced. We can think of our kprf as a series of thick, red layers. Promoting new skin growth over time might resolve in a complexion without the red/ irritated skin. Does this make sense? maybe im just bull****ting myself. Also, I remember a long time back( prob a year or two) that someone with kprf had facial peels and this reduced the redness. I just threw that out there because I remembered it. The degree to which the redness was reduced or how faithful the person is is questionable. So what do you think? also check out the links these comments i got online that says it can treat rosacea.

"The Fraxel Laser is FDA approved for the treatment of facial (periorbital) wrinkles, age spots, and sun spots, but it's expected to work well for almost any application for which traditional ablative resurfacing is effective, including acne scars, rosacea (including rosacea with breakouts), hyperpigmentation, and sun-damaged skin"

Rosacea Laser Treatment

Perhaps the most powerful method of treating rosacea is through a laser procedure. Laser surgery is used to remove deep scarring and skin damage, repair telangiectasia, and refinish the skin to diminish redness and swelling. One of the most common rosacea laser treatment options is laser resurfacing.

Laser resurfacing uses an intense laser to remove damaged skin layer by layer. One of the benefits of rosacea laser treatment is that it can be used on the entire face or just specific target areas.

If the Derm has no reason to push this laser above another I guess it is the real deal. I know a lot on the board are sceptical of dermatologists but they are specialist and know what they are talking about.

I thought maybe this was the only laser this derm had and he was perhaps promoting it as a cure all for everything and as KPRF is not that common he just thought it should help this also.

Your logic about the skin resurfacing does make sense and at the end of the day if you trust the derm I would say go for it. Having no down time is a great plus. I have not been able to get a third vbeam treatment as i have just changed jobs and cannot get bulk time off.

I appreciate your investigations into KPRF and also being willing to take some definate action to try and treat it. What we need on this forum is someone to say I had this laser treatment done for KPRF and it helped me in this way.

Make sure you get some before and after photos - everyone likes to see these don't they.

Just thought of one other option and that is to try a small area on your face to see what happens and then compare it with the untreated skin. This would be at less of a cost and as the derm probably has never treated KPRF before I don't think this would be an unusual request.

Good luck

Thx anne, Im kinda skeptical of test patches because I think the whole area needs to be treated to see any kind of good results. Testing a small spot and hoping you see a difference is bs to me. Any way Im probably gonna go throught with the whole procedure because I have the time and money right now and I cant say I will have that in the near future. I am also a strong believer in trying new things, partially because there are new lasers out there that no one has tried. Unfortunately this site is plagued with people who just read over what everyone else wrote searching for a miracle cure. Some of us go through with expensive treatments and spend alot of time discussing issues and trying new products while others just wait around. There absolutely needs to be more proactive people that try new things. Just having the same ten of us "usuals" around trying new things isnt going to get us as far as we could. Thats why Im probably going to take the leap of faith and have this treatment done. Once again it is no downtime, which is critical for me. If I dont see ANY results of less redness or skin thickness then I will hold off on a second treatment and consult another derm. If I do see some hopeful signs of kprf clearing, then I will get a second treatment. Later.

I like your attitude Dick - you are the sort of person who makes a difference. All the best with your treatment.

Wow Dick, that sounds really interesting. I'd say that it's worth a shot, definitely. It's good to hear from people who are trying new and different methods.

As for me, I'm going to me doing the vbeam this summer. I'm through screwing around. It's time to get serious. I don't know if I should get the $50 test patch though, or just go through with the whole thing. What does everybody think?

Yeah $550 dollars is alot for something that may not even work but Ive had unbearable instances in my life where I would have traded my truck and my other posessions for kprf to be gone. I dont expect miraculous results from the first treatment but hopefully there will be some redness reduction. Even if it takes $2000 dollars to get a 50-70% redness reduction I would do it. Money really isnt that important when you have a disorder that causes such embarassment and worry. Lets put things in perspective, even if it took $4000 to totally treat your kprf- wouldnt it be worth it. Its not that much money in the long run and it would totally change your happiness and outlook on life.

Dick, are you going to do some before and after photos for yourself?

Dick , I could nt agree more with you about the money buddy , I would sell my house to get rid of the kprf . Guess I should post more to keep you guys informed of my efforts . Anne sort of knows me from previous posts but in brief i ve used 1: IPL , various methods , none worked 2: PDL test patches only , with small improvement so may be worth another test patch on the same area ! Presently subjecting myself to Veinwave which may or may not be working , consultant recons 3 tx needed to tell if it will work for me . Had 1 treatment so far and going for a second next week , supposed to be no down time but i was quite red for about a week and glad i was off work to lessen the embarassment . Veinwave uses a very small needle to deliver what i believe is a microwave heating effect , procedure is quite sore but not as bad as IPL on very high settings ! I personally think test patches are a good idea but it needs to be a reasonable size .I think there may be something in the resurfacing tecnique so go for it and we ll compare notes . Good luck.

Thx derfel, iam going to go for it and see what happens. Im glad we can agree on the money issue. Honestly, I dont really give a **** about money when I have a skin disorder that runs some of my life.

i totally agree with you Dick, and am very eager to hear about your results after having tried IPL myself and having no longterm success.

As mentioned b4, and since we are such a small community with very little support of the medical community..PLEASE PLEASE get before and after photos taken in the same light- for the benefit of us all.
Thanx and best of luck

Terry (Male 29, London, KPRF, and KP sufferer since early teens)

Well I just got done with the fraxel. The treatment was somewhat painful and I have some minor swelling. I will report on a weekly basis on improvement. Iam praying I see good results. I have to tell you something, without my belief in Jesus Christ my journey with kprf would be much harder. I am praying for his blessing with a decrease in redness.

Dick I'm a believer too so I'll be added my prayers to yours!

Ditto your comments - without the reality of Christ in my life and the restoration he has worked within me (after all the selfesteem and selfhatred issues all this stuff bought me!) I truly wouldn't be here.

I read this somewhere last year and it has helped me a lot.

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience but rather spiritual beings having a human experience.

Unfortunately our human experience can be a tad difficult with KPRF but with our spirit united to the Living God through Jesus Christ you can rise up above these issues.

sorry if that sounded a bit 'preachy' but Jesus works

Shalom

PS: please note no argument or debate will be entered into over the above statements

Dick , best of luck with the treatment buddy.How many does the consultant recon you need ? I m back in myself tuesday for my second tx . He said he would know after 3 whether it was working or not but having been here before I m not too hopeful .I will keep you updated on this link.Hope you dont mind the suggestion but it's probably best we leave politics and religion off these forums, just a thought !