The UK newspaper The Times has a plug for veinwave, human placenta treatments and beta hydroxy acid for treating rosacea. This article is an update to a previous article also featuring rosacea sufferer Allie Todd. The January 26 article was optimistically titled How one woman fought stress to overcome rosacea.
Some excerpts from today’s article:
How one woman beat rosacea, Allie Todd has suffered from the red facial rash rosacea since her late twenties. From The Times, December 27, 2008. by Lisa Freeman.
Dr Newman treats rosacea in the UK and US with the same technique that is used to remove varicose veins. Six months on, Todd, a mental health nurse and trainee homoeopath, says that the rosacea is “80 per cent better”. “I still blush, but that’s personality and nothing’s going to stop that. But the difference is that the blush isn’t still there an hour later and the prickly itchy feeling doesn’t happen. My baseline of redness is so much reduced and my pores have shrunk because they’re not being pushed apart by veins any more.”
This update tells us that Dr. Bryan Newman offered to treat her with a technique that is also used to treat varicose veins. Apparently Dr. Bryan believes that “that rosacea is caused by chronic low-grade infection that blocks the pores”.
The first part of the treatment used `asylaic acid’. This looks like a mis-spelling to me. Perhaps they mean salicylic acid. Strange to see such poor editing in a publication like The Times.
Next was a “thermo-coagulation treatment with heated needles. A very fine heated needle, part of a Veinwave machine, was used to puncture alongside the veins, allowing the blood to be released”. Each session cost an impressive £350.
The final part of the treatment used “a day and night cream that contained 10-20 per cent human placenta, from Russia, which helps to regenerate skin cells.” Dr. Newman believes that another year’s use of the placenta based cream will further help her symptoms.
Has anyone been offered placenta cream as part of their rosacea treatments ? feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts.
Related Articles
- Rosacea Forum thread: veinwave
I think they may be referring to Azelaic Acid (Finacia),which is an RX cream sometimes used for rosacea.
Hi Rachel,
They may have meant finacea, but from the line “Todd began using asylaic acid, which removes the top layer of the skin for four weeks” it sounds like it could be a chemical peel or exfoliant. This would fit with a beta hydroxy acid like Salicylic Acid.
Even though the mis-spelling would be closer to azelaic acid, it seems strange that it would be used as an exfoliant. At first read it sounds like an unintended bad reaction to finacea.
Either way they have left us guessing …
davidp.
We treat hundreds of Rosacea sufferers at ur medical skin clinic in Essex. We find that a combination of Rosacea Phototherapy and Veinwave produces a quick response in around 90% of cases. (elan medical clinic)
I have not heard mention of Dr Newman on the forums. neither has anyone mentioned this human placenta cream.
It does seem a bit unusual that such unknown treatment methods and doctors get a nice plug in a big newspaper. This leads me to wonder why they would decide to promote this story. I hate to be a cynic – but lets do hope that this is an independent article and not influenced by the clinic.
davidp.
Dear Digital David. You are right to question the reason behind such articles as these articles promote a the benifits of treatment without mentioning the risks. I know Dr Newman; he trained me in the use of Veinwave. As Dr Newman is the pioneer of Veinwave treatment, you would expect his views to be biased in favour of his machine. I have treated hundreds of Rosacea sufferers in my twenty year career as a clinical Nurse Specialist in Dermatology and while I have found that Veinwave can help, we normally prefer to treat with a course of phototherapy first. If there are few larger veins around the nose and cheeks, we close them down using Veinwave. While this treatment programme cannot cure Rosacea (maintenance treatment is usually required) our research shows that 90% of our clients find their condition has improved dramatically by the end of the programme. We have a very detailed question and answer leaflet on Veinwave on our website that you may find useful.
Sue
elan medical clinic
im wondering why all this treatment cant be funded by nhs as i suffer this prob and all i keep getting is cream on tabs as i cant afford to go clnic if you dont suffer from this you really dont realize how low you can get
Rosacea is such a common skin complaint that the NHS will only treat exacerbations of the condition. Facial flushing is stil considered to be a cosmetic problem rather than a medical necessity. While Azelaic Acid is prescribed on the NHS, it is not that effective. Treatments like Rosacea Phototherpay and Veinwave are too expensive and time consuming for the NHS. The same is true for other skin conditions, such as acne and psoriasis. The main problemis that not enough doctors enter into dermatology and a lot of provincial hospitals find it hard to find qualified dermatologists, so the ones that are around are so busy seing urgent skin cancer cases they do not have time or the funds to carry out Rosacea Phototherapy and Veinwave. The other problem is that not even BUPA will cover reatments as they are regarded as cosmetic not medical treatments.
We offer these treatments at our skin clinic in Essex and they are extremely popular. We see Rosacea sufferers from the whole of eastern England.
elan medical clinic