2008 Q&A - Interview with Dr Nick Soldo

[Melissa W]

Hi everyone,
I contacted Dr. Soldo and he graciously accepted an offer to do a question and answer session with us. We have a week or 2 to get our questions together before I present them to him. Please submit your questions here. Thanks.

Best wishes,
Melissa

[Peter]

Hello Melissa

Nick Soldo is an extremely respected professional in his field so I am sure a Q & A session will be very useful for those interested in laser treatments.

Thanks for arranging as I know how these things can take time and effort to organise.

Peter

[lindylu]

HI

I have viewed the video a zillion times and wish to heavens that my derm would too. I feel that he knows zilch about rosacea and less about what is going on in his treatment rooms which are staffed by "operators" at the best


here's my question.Thanks so much for offering your time and compassion for those of us struggling for normal lives

in your protocol, how many miliseconds for each pulse? is the delay between each pulse 20 ms. I understand the filters ( 640, 590, 560 ) the joules 20 but I am not sure about the reference to 3-20 ms

In your experience and expertise, have you had any paltients who were not helped by the IPL treatments and were more successful with the pulsed dye lasers. if so, which one or ones.


Sincerest thanks
Linda

[Melissa W]

Hi Dr. Soldo,

Thanks again for agreeing to do the Q and A.

What is your preferred treatment of choice (i.e. VBeam, KTP-532, Nd:Yag 1064, IPL) for the following symptoms:

1. flushing with burning
2. papules and/or pustules
3. permanent redness

Thanks,
Melissa

[Melissa W]

Dr. Soldo,

What do you do for a patient who has been unresponsive to laser or IPL?

And, is there a maximum # of treatments where you feel doing any more would not be of any benefit or do you have no limit as long as the patient is improving? That is, are there any negative effects over time that could happen with repeated IPL or laser?

Thanks again,
Melissa

[phlika29]

Hi Dr Soldo and many thanks for agreeing to do this Q and A.

Do you ever treat the eyelids and if you do how do you protect the eye?

What treatment would you think best for potential early stage rhinophyma?

If rosacea is mild would you recommend starting laser/IPL treatment early to avoid progression?

Many thanks

Sarah

[man_from_mars]

Dr. Soldo,

Is there a different method in treating telangiectasias from steroid induced rosacea
vs. a treatment to reduce flushing and overall redness?

Are all telangiectasias treated the same?
- circular spots around outer cheeks and sides towards the ears
- lines around the side of nose and nostrils with some diffuse background redness

Thanks for your support,
man_from_mars

[francois]

Dr Soldo,

Thank you for your time.

I know that Lumenis One is your choice of IPL but what do you think about IPL devices such as Sciton BBL, Starlux and Limelight?

Is there a major difference between IPLs manufactured by different brands in terms of the protocols and the device settings that should be used, meaning would you still use the same filters, pulse width, number of passes and other variables with Sciton BBL, Starlux or Limelight?

Francois

[markjack]

Hi Dr Soldo,

There is things going around at the moment about IPL and fat loss and skin indentations? Have you ever encountered this before? Is this down to a inexperienced technician or is it a case by case basis and this potentially might happen to anyone?

Thanks,

Mark

[Spav]

Hi Dr Soldo,

My question is about the energy levels for IPL that you use on your patients. How do you find the optimum level for each person?

The reason i ask is during my treatments using a 3-pass protocol (on the Lumenis One) have gone from a range 20-24J for each pass (24 for the longer wavelength) to recently up to 28J for them all. I'm told my skin is very light tolerant. However i'm not noticing any improved benefits. Is it a case of maximum energy for maximum coagulation? (without burning of course)

Thanks,

Spav