dmw,

You can search for past posts on PDL by going to the "search" function on the upper right of this page. I hope you get some answers there.

kebod

oh yeah, i have another question. in the summer my kprf pretty much dissapears but it looks really bad during the fall/winter months. i was wondering if its a good idea to wait until winter when the redness is more noticeable to get the treatment done or not??

The derm who did my PDL treatment says it is best to do it when your skin is not tanned - the paler the better.

This would make winter a better option and also easier to hide away while your skin heals.

There seems to be a lot of difference in prices so hunt around. You really need to rely on the derms advice and to what setting would be best for you.

Jason speaks in one of his posts about a 'stacking method' which seems to have good results on the redness without too much bruising.

I never heard of KPRF going away in the summer, usually hot weather makes KPRF look as bad as cold weather. its the extreme heat or cold. U are not supposed to be tanned or on accutane or in the sun before treatment or tanning after treatment for a few weeks, but since PDL does not work with only 1 treatment, u really should limit ur time in the sun or wear a hat during treatments. also u cant decide ur settings thats up to the derm and ur first treatment will most definatly be at a low setting to see how ur skin tolerates the treatment which there is no bruising, and Ive had mine at 7.5 joules, and never bruised with 5 treatments so far, but u will be redder or pink after treatment for about a week, and puffy (swollen) for a couple days.

the way PDL works is it decreases the redness in incriments with every treatment. best results are when u get treated consisntly say once a month for 3-5 months. maybe u can ask ur folks to pay for them, and the job u work just give them the money as good faith. they might even be able to get ur derm to have it put under ur insurance, which is an option u can ask, but look for a derm who deals in COSMETIC DERMATOLOGY, not just a dermatologist, the more different machines he has, IPL, PDL, etc.. the more experinced he should be, because them machines are not cheap, like $50,000 and up each. what do u mean ur KPRF diassapers in the summer ?

DMW,

anything ?

does it have to be a month between treatments or can they be done sooner?? sorry, i just really want to get this done and over with. my folks wont pay for it, they thing im being rediculous for wanting surgery(people without kprf just dont understand) i asked my derm if it would be covered by insurance and she said no, so basically that only leaves me with the option of getting a job and getting as many treatments as possible. as far as my kprf dissapearing in the summer, i cant really explain it. i have extremely pale skin so maybe its because i get tan in the summer. it probably has more to do with humidity though

its not surgery, its a treatment but done by a dermatologist. like for example someone needs a mole removed, u go in the derms office for that. sooner, no they are about a months between treatments so u can see the response of each treatment, because right after a treatment u will look worse for a few days, then u should see improvement with each treatment. u cant ask a derm if it will be covered by insurance the reason is its considered a cosmetic treatment and anything cosmetic is not covered only something medically neccesary is. If u find a derm through someone u know or a family member who knows them, and there not greedy doctor, its nothing for them to bill insurace for treatments, because it wont be written up as cosmetic it will be written up as mediaclly neccesary, and most likely a little fib as a different condtion for example (hemingioma) which is what PDL was invented for to treat (HEMINGIOMA) port wine stain!

i see, so how long did it take before you saw results?

2-3 treatments, so within 3 months Ive seen results, it lightened up with every treatment, and just had my 5th treatment on APR 28th, another in May, because I prescheduled all my appointments assuming it would take 2-8 treatments. But I also started taking Paxil 20mg daily in Dec 07 which stopped my flushing/blushing! I was a worrier too even during treatments, but give things a little more time.

PDL treatments 7.0 to 7.5 joules (using stacking method) mention this to the Dermatologist!


Paxil 20 mg daily after about 4 days flush/blush was gone, Dec 07 through today Apr 08!

The 2 P's!

so whats the difference between the stacking method and however else they do it?

sorry for all the questions

one zap and then another zap right after the first one= 2 zaps, so for example if one of ur cheeks needs say 15 zaps to cover it the stacking method would be 30 zaps.
understand?

yeah that makes sense. might save me some money too since i probably wont need as many treatments that way. thanks

Jason- I've been reading up on some of your posts... thanks for sharing such great info with everyone!

I think I'm a fairly similar case to what you were prior to the end of 2007. I'm in my 20's, and I have KPRF- have had it for as long as I can remember... I can deal with the red bumps for the most part (though i just started using an exfoliating sponge and some cocoa butter lotion - we'll see...), but the redness in the cheeks bothers me when it gets into its extremes. Day-to-day, it's not a terrible thing for me (some girlfriends have even said it's "cute"), but as you probably know, when I experience: extreme heat, extreme cold, cool wind, exercise, public speaking, and drinking alcohol (wow, that's actually a LOT of things hehe), it seems to get really bad - that's the part I don't like. So I've decided I would really like to do something about it - the sooner the better.

As I said in another post, I am interested in PDL, but mostly concerned with how many days I'll be "out of commission" (i.e. won't want to go out in public and be seen by friends, with a red/bruised/swollen face), since I don't have too many free 1-2 week periods.

On another note, are you at all concerned with taking a medication designed to treat something completely different (depression/anxiety?) than what you're using it to treat? Have you experienced any minor or serious side effects from it, and/or do you notice any mental changes (negative or positive... I suppose positive changes would be a great side effect!) since beginning taking it?

I guess since it sounds like you started taking Paxil around the time when you got your first PDL treatment, it's probably hard to say, but how much of the overall redness reduction in your face would you say is from the PDL's you've gotten - and how many PDL treatments have you had total? It sounds like you say Paxil only helps with the "flushing/blushing", by which I'm guessing you mean what I referred to as the extreme conditions that make my cheek redness really bad, correct?

Also, how did you go about searching for a "cosmetic dermatologist" to treat you, and is the price very high?

Sorry for the barrage of questions. Thanks a lot,
Dan

correct! paxil stopped my flushing and blushing, PDL is ridding me of the redness from the KPRF. paxl was invented for anxiety, and anxiety causes flushing/blushing, it could even be OCD causing flushing/blushing either way paxil treats all forms of anxiety and depression, it was the first of its kind, its not like its prozac, so no concern or problems here!

I mentioned I was looking for a good dermatologist, and my aunt recomended me mine, she had no idea what for, neither did she have anything major either just a wart on her foot, and thats it.

just look for a derm who deals in cosmetic dermatology or a derm who has PDL and or IPL machines at their office, since they are used for cosmetic purposes they would have to have experince using them, and treating redness of different forms, rosacea more commonly, but my derm told me treating the KPRF is similar to treating rosacea redness, but paxil made it easier to treat, since no more beet redness since no more flushing/blushing, which I dont know or think their is any other way to treat, topically anyway. price depends on the derm I guess, since they set the prices!

read through the flushing and blushing cure paxil thread I posted for more info.


Khrissy3000, just started paxil about 13 days ago, and his stopped as well, and ash213 too!