SURVEY | Effectiveness of light therapy for rosacea and/or seborrheic dermatitis

[shibaluv]

inflammation

I am new to this forum and a little intimidated so please bare with me...I would like to "Thank" all that participate since this has been a lifesaver for me! I get a little overwhelmed by all the antidotes and suggestions, sometimes I am not sure which way to go,LOL! but grateful there is so much information to choose from.
I was diagnosed many years ago when I drank some wine (I stopped drinking alcohol), it eventually went away on its own. I never really had another incident for about 18years (little ones here and there but nothing to speak of) I recently turned 50, was eating horribly..next thing I know I have a full on attack, this has been going on for about 4mnths now. My Dermo prescribed the basic Metrogel, Orecea. I have not filled presciptions. I feel it was in remission all these years and something really trigger it and would like to figure that out first.
My gut tells me that it is hormonal based (perimenapausal) and everything that goes along with the change. I read much of what Irishgenes had to say and made much sense for me. I am sorry she has not been on the site for awhile, would love to know how she is doing.
Anyways...sorry to make this a LONG story and get to the question on RLT. I was wondering if this helps with inflammation? Although, I feel my Rosacea is based on heat and would get many flushes in the beginning, I control it with Acupuncture/diet and now I am left with a constant inflammation to my face that heats up a little sometimes and has a burning sensation. I have pink cheeks always now...not too bad. I really feel more of a inflammation sensation that you really can't see. Different skin texture for sure.
Does RLT help inflammation? or just flushing/burning? or are these the same thing?
I am thinking of purchasing the Omnilux newU on amazon, unless you think the ledman is better.
Thanks, Shibaluv

[findingaway]

I too feel intimidated by the amount if info! and sorry to hear it is back!

I too mostly get the burning sensation with little or no redness. I started a post on it: http://www.google.co.uk/m/url?client...6M-_WBDgrAp9PA

RLT does help bring down inflammation. It is slow to work and you must build up slowly .

Good luck

[findingaway]

Well, after a pretty depressing rough ride recently, I am extremely pleased to report that before tonights RLT (infrared) I was still recovering from a flush from biking yesterday, that I am looking normal. Almost no permanent redness. I almost can't believe it.

I went for 18 minutes as close as I could get!

I will sleep happy tonight at least!

One note tho. Been having a lot of problems with a root canal tooth recently. It hurts to buggery to eat on. Managed to get the inflammation down a couple of times with green clay and strepsils lodged against the tooth for hours. These two methods done at separate times obviously!

But it wasn't until I did this session tonight that it started hurting again. I wonder if the RLT has trigger something as all this started shortly after getting the RL unit. I had the root canal done years ago (5 maybe) with no probs until now!

[rcb67]

I have an all red 66nm from the led man. Great unit. Love it. No need to go to infared. It will not dry out your skin. It will moisturize it. I don't use eye protection but if you want go ahead and use it. Calms the skin down and reduces inflamation.

so this has helped you with red skin?

[findingaway]

It's been a while. I wondered how people are getting on?

I stopped using red light therapy a few years ago. It seemed to do the trick at keeping Rosacea at bay. I've continued to take astanaxthan, vit d3 and magnesium. Mostly, my symptoms have stayed at bay. However, I still suffer phantom burning (like right now with no redness) and flushing when I exercise (badly).

If the phantom burning continues (which has become more prominent recently due to stress me thinks), I think it'll revisit the RLT.

[burnforyou]

It's been a while. I wondered how people are getting on?

I stopped using red light therapy a few years ago. It seemed to do the trick at keeping Rosacea at bay. I've continued to take astanaxthan, vit d3 and magnesium. Mostly, my symptoms have stayed at bay. However, I still suffer phantom burning (like right now with no redness) and flushing when I exercise (badly).

If the phantom burning continues (which has become more prominent recently due to stress me thinks), I think it'll revisit the RLT.

Thanks for the update!!! As u know, many of us in here are starved of info in regard to red light therapy.

[findingaway]

Thanks for the update!!! As u know, many of us in here are starved of info in regard to red light therapy.

Really? There's load of info about isn't there?

Defo worth a go. Don't think I've heard of it having any negative effects, certainly not long term anyhow.

[davekelly]

Really? There's load of info about isn't there?

Defo worth a go. Don't think I've heard of it having any negative effects, certainly not long term anyhow.

Did it turn your skin back to its original pale colour ? from -

That's the 6 million dollar question

[findingaway]

Did it turn your skin back to its original pale colour ? from -

That's the 6 million dollar question

Simply, yes. However, in the year my symptoms started, I went on a mad 20 hour a day mission to reverse my condition, trying everything under the sun. My skin never got to a state where it was red without flushing - well, not badly anyhow.

What RLT did do is stop the flushing when drinking and eating spicey food and reduce the instances of seemingly random flushing.

I think other treatments may be much more effective than RLT for reversing permanent redness unfortunately, although you'd need to do some digging as I'm not the best one to ask. There are some pics of my condition when it was at its worse on this forum somewhere!

[IowaDavid]

Simply, yes. However, in the year my symptoms started, I went on a mad 20 hour a day mission to reverse my condition, trying everything under the sun. My skin never got to a state where it was red without flushing - well, not badly anyhow.

What RLT did do is stop the flushing when drinking and eating spicey food and reduce the instances of seemingly random flushing.

I think other treatments may be much more effective than RLT for reversing permanent redness unfortunately, although you'd need to do some digging as I'm not the best one to ask. There are some pics of my condition when it was at its worse on this forum somewhere!

It's helpful to distinguish between "permanent" redness and "baseline" redness, though they can be difficult to separate at times because they overlap one another.

Permanent redness in my mind would be like micro-telangiectasia and for this you'd most likely need a laser treatment or IPL to remove the vessels because they've gone past the point of healing themselves.

However, if you think about what your face looks like when it's at its best, i.e. first thing in the morning for some people or after a period of fast or after having taken a particular medication (like an antihistamine, for instance), with consistent use RLT can make your face look like this much more often/on a regular basis. RLT will keep your face looking this way despite triggers and insults throughout the day. You do need to use it for awhile in order to see these maximum benefits, though.

As findingaway said, RLT will also prevent flushing from occurring to problem triggers you may have, and this will be individually dependent on what it helps with because it's stopping the inflammation that's causing you to be sensitized to these triggers in the first place. RLT may help one person with spontaneous afternoon/late-day flushing (which I always found especially frustrating because there was no way to stop it) or with a reaction to spicy foods in a different person. On balance, though, it should help minimize your flushing response to most of your triggers.

Personally, I found for flushing *prevention* that RLT worked much, much better than anything that lasers or IPL ever did for me. Lasers and IPL helped with some visible symptoms, but I never found them to be very good at treating burning and pain in my face, and I never really noticed much help from them for allowing me to get back to my day-to-day life beyond rosacea.

Best,

David

[davekelly]

Hi David

Baby Quasar MD Plus costs $800

Is that what you have ?

[IowaDavid]

Hi David

Baby Quasar MD Plus costs $800

Is that what you have ?

I use the Soothing Rain TM Light Unit. You can find info here: www.soothingrainlight.com . It comes with a return policy for an in-home trial so you can make sure RLT is working for your unique expression of rosacea--no risk.

I wouldn't use the Baby Quasar MD Plus for a couple of reasons. It's a handheld and you're going to get irregular coverage on your face that may not do a thorough job and it will take you a lot longer to do daily treatments.
More importantly, the Baby Quasar uses infrared light and this tends to be worse for rosacea sufferers--more likely to cause increased redness and flushing in a greater number of people.

Best,

David

[wiry]

David,

Your commercial unit looks pretty as far as specs go and is pretty convenient for full face. I have been thinking about trying it out. But I also thought you are using a higher power unit now? So are you using the commercial unit or a custom built higher power unit?

[IowaDavid]

David,

Your commercial unit looks pretty as far as specs go and is pretty convenient for full face. I have been thinking about trying it out. But I also thought you are using a higher power unit now? So are you using the commercial unit or a custom built higher power unit?

I'm continuing to experiment with a homebuilt array, though it needs some work as several of the connections are coming loose. I also use my commercial model at home and definitely when I'm traveling because it's much easier to transport, open up, and put away.

Best,

David

[davekelly]

I use the Soothing Rain TM Light Unit. You can find info here: www.soothingrainlight.com . It comes with a return policy for an in-home trial so you can make sure RLT is working for your unique expression of rosacea--no risk.

I wouldn't use the Baby Quasar MD Plus for a couple of reasons. It's a handheld and you're going to get irregular coverage on your face that may not do a thorough job and it will take you a lot longer to do daily treatments.
More importantly, the Baby Quasar uses infrared light and this tends to be worse for rosacea sufferers--more likely to cause increased redness and flushing in a greater number of people.

Best,

David

Will this also work for KPRF ?

A Friend of mine has been asking about it