Rosacea Support Community

So, like many that visit this section, I'm considering vbeam or ipl but I'm concerned about making everything worse. Pretty much every doctor I've been to has suggested it, but they are all so nonchalant about it. They give the whole spiel about no downtime, you'll be able to go right back to work etc. But if you search the internet and even this site it's not uncommon to find people who suffered for weeks or months after their treatments. So which is it? Are some of these doctors just sugar coating it to get a sale or is it really uncommon for people to have bad reactions to lasers?

I've had three non purpuric V Beams followed by four purpuric V Beams.

The three non bruising ones left me red and flushy for about a week. I needed good air conditioning, in the low sixties, and had to eat no carbs or I'd flush painfully. They didn't do much good.

Then I asked my doctor to get more aggressive, and I got four bruising V Beams.

The good news is that they did a ton of good for my rosacea. The reason you bruise is that the V Beam Perfecta actually ruptures the problematical blood vessels. So they're gone. They can't plague you anymore. These four purpuric V Beams have done me more good than YEARS of IPL. And I'm a difficult case, with some of the worst rosacea all my doctors have ever seen; a persistent flusher with dark purple flushes that last eight hours or more. Absolutely debilitating.

The bad news is that the bruising was impressive, to say the least. I was totally purple on the side of my face where the rosacea was worst. I was swollen up like a balloon for four or five days. There was NO WAY I could cover it with makeup. I scared people when I went walking on the streets. I looked like I'd been hit by a truck, huge swollen purple welts.

More good news; each time, it's harder to bruise me and I have less swelling. That's because there's less target to hit, I imagine.

After two weeks, I can almost cover it with makeup. After three weeks, I look almost normal. After four weeks, I look great.... then we go do it again.

I'm going to need several many more of these purpuric V Beams to eradicate all the damage caused by my years of flushing. I am incredibly impressed with the V Beam Perfecta's ability to rupture and remove the blood vessels. Now that I've seen so much improvement, I eagerly go back for more. The bruising is a small price to pay to knock this back to where I can live an almost normal life again.

Highly recommended!

I sent photos of my face at its worst to all my friends and told them what I was doing, so they wouldn't be horrified when they saw me. That made me far less self conscious about looking so funny, and now that it's been going on all winter, they're as used to it as I am.

Hope this helps.

I've had four v-beams, two of them were purpuric.

My case isn't nearly as bad as WrinkledClue's, not by any means. I'm going to post before and after photos, maybe tomorrow. I'm about 14 weeks post-vbeam at the moment. My thread is on the index.

Anyway, if possible, don't do v-beam in the Summer months. The heat slows the healing.

I got lots of welts from both treatments. The purpuric treatments were most effective, but I didn't have very prominent purpuric spots. They showed up a day or two later as light red spots. I could cover everything with makeup. I wouldn't say the welts were worse with purpuric treatment. If you do it, ask for purpura. They'll do test spots and will use the minimum amount of power in order to burst the vessels.

The swelling for me was the biggest cosmetic concern and the major part of it went away after about 4 days. Cortisone helped. I was often back to work two days after.

The rest of the healing took months. I broke out in lots of papules afterward, every time.

I'm glad I did it though. Did lots for the flushing and the inflammation in general.

Doing red light therapy along with the laser helped speed healing and helped any blemishes fade faster.

Hope this helps you!

WrinkledClue', I found photos from your purpuric treatments on another forum. Can I just say, holy ****!!! I had no idea the bruising was that intense, they don't show those kinds of pictures when they're trying to sell you treatment! You are both definitely braver than me. NannyBug, I found your photos in the other thread, you had great results too. Almost makes me want to run out and get it done! My skin looks a lot like yours did before you started, but I have more veins around my nose. I thought about getting treatments done in sections, is that common? Like start with the chin, then the nose, etc, so the effects are hopefully not as intense? Or is it better to just go for it?

NannyBug, I found your photos in the other thread, you had great results too. Almost makes me want to run out and get it done! My skin looks a lot like yours did before you started, but I have more veins around my nose. I thought about getting treatments done in sections, is that common? Like start with the chin, then the nose, etc, so the effects are hopefully not as intense? Or is it better to just go for it?

Only my first treatment was full face. The second treatment was above the brows, mid-forehead, cheeks and nose. Third was the same, except with purpura. Fourth was mostly forehead and nose with treatment to the apple of the cheeks. I'm planning on a fifth with just the nose and forehead.

To answer your question: yes. They can do it in sections. In fact, if you're really concerned, have them do a test spot first. See what happens. And if no adverse reaction, then just go for full face with purpura. The recovery time from the first treatment takes the longest.

To minimize post-laser swelling, I used 1% hydrocortizone (Aquanil HC lotion) full face two times a day two days prior to treatment. Make sure you get all the lotion off before the treatment. Be sure your face is CLEAN prior to laser. Oh, also, don't flush yourself prior to treatment. My laser tech told me there's no evidence to suggest that yields better results.

I'd get it done through a dermatology clinic, not a plastic surgeon or some beauty center. An experienced laser technician is OK. Mine was an RN certified in laser who worked with a dermatologist. They have such a high volume of laser that they had to use techs. I also used the Perfecta laser by Candela. It's the best pulsed dye laser out there presently.

Good luck! You'll be fine. Just remember ... LONG TERM results are what you're seeking.


I should also mention that after laser, don't be dismayed if you get these strange lines in your face after the swelling goes down. It will almost look like craquelature (not sure of spelling) or wrinkling. That will resolve over several months as it fills in with collagen. Just use lots of moisturizer for the first few months afterward.

I've been thinking about it a lot, and I'm gonna do it! After reading your posts here, some research papers, and other comments out on the internet I think it's something worth trying. It seems to help a lot of people. I'm terrified of the procedure, but I'm even more terrified of the daily flushing I've developed in the last few months. It is progressing so fast, I want to get it under control asap! My consult with my dermatologist is on April 13, from there I guess I'll start with a test patch.