5 Vbeams later - Pulsed dyed laser for blushing, flushing, stinging, burning and redness

This is an update on my progress with treating skin blushing, flushing, pain and general redness. Since 2020, I visited multiple clinics for different types of laser and light-based treatment with little success. Before that, I’d had a third Vbeam Perfecta (PDL) treatment in November 109, which ended up making everything worse. That was devastating. Also, the clinic I’d be going to shut down and the doctor who treated me became unavailable. During lockdown I managed to find clinics offering various treatments, but finding Vbeam was hard. I had a treatment using the Cutera Excel V (KTP), but that didn't work, pointless. I went to some other clinics including one in Loughborough where I had seven IPL treatments with the Lynton IPL. Again, that didn't do anything. I went to another clinic in Nottingham - also for IPL. That also didn’t help. I was running out of options. I used azelaic acid and other medicated products to try and disguise the redness. And I started using mandelic acid at one point to try and exfoliate the skin, to try and get the skin cell turnover going. Eventually I found another clinic that offered Vbeam pulsed dye laser. And guess what? It was the Vbeam Prima. That's the successor to the Vbeam Perfecta. The Prima actually has a wider spot size. The Vbeam Perfecta spot size is 10 millimetre but the Prima is 15 millimetres. That means can hit a larger area of skin with each zap of the laser. The Prima has a better cooling system compared to the Perfact as well, AND it leaves less bruising. So I went to the Everything Skin Clinic in Manchester. The dermatologist (Dr Vishal Madan) who consulted with me and treated me is the president of the British Medical Laser Association. Good to be in good hands. I had five rounds of treatment with the Vbeam Prima over the course of 9 months. I explained the whole reason that I was having these problems. I was a blusher, a flusher. I had sensitive skin. Anything and everything aggravated my skin. And then I was prescribed the dreaded Mirvaso which has become somewhat notorious in skincare circles and among reasonably intelligent doctors. I told Dr Madan as much as I could, including the account of experiencing a worsening redness baseline and increased blushing and flushing following the 2019 Vbeam treatment down in Nottingham Each Vbeam Prima treatment was spaced roughly a month apart, starting off with low settings, and gradually increasing the fluence (energy) to the higher levels. I recovered from each treatment just fine but I wasn’t seeing results. The good news was, it wasn’t getting any worse. That really was part of the strategy – to just see if I could take it without a negative reaction. I didn't see much of an improvement. Five treatments in Manchester plus the test patches and full face treatments in Nottingham put me at around ten Vbeam treatments total. I believe things MIGHT have gotten better since having this final treatment (which was in January 2024) but it MIGHT be because of the other approaches I’ve taken to my skin apart from laser. I've decided to give my skin a rest for a little bit. All I've been doing in 2024 is avoiding the sun, using Azelaic acid a few times a week (it’s the 15% Finacea gel) and also using lactic acid (5%) as well as occasional use of strong topical vitamin C and occasional use of Alpha Arbutin. I didn’t mention it in the video, but I sometimes use LED on my face. That deserves an entire video of its own. Sometimes you’ve just got to get the skin cells turning over. You've got the dermis, the epidermis, and then you've got something on the top of the epidermis called the stratum corneum, which functions as a protective layer of dead skin cells that cab be thought of us a microscopic crust. That's good in some ways. It protects you a little bit from the sun, but you also need to slough off the stratum corneum with either exfoliants or by using mechanical exfoliation, and by doing this, you can get your skin cells turning over which, over many months, can begin to reveal clearer, smoother skin. I've noticed when I look in the mirror, sometimes my skin seems a bit clearer. It seems like I'm getting more back to the baseline that I used to have. Is that the laser? Or is it the chemical exfoliants? Is it the Azelaic acid? Maybe it’s all of them. Don't get me wrong. I'm still a blusher and a flusher. I just want to improve my baseline redness knowing that if I do, my blushing and flushing and the reacting to environmental triggers (like heat) might not be so intense. It’s also important to eat healthy and get lots of rest and sleep.