Elena--

My eyes are well enough now that I can function. In fact, sometimes they
feel so "normal" that I think I might be getting well, but let me try to skip
even one evening of my routine, and the rosacea beast comes back full force.
I've learned not to skip treatments because getting the beast under control has
been in my experience much more difficult than working consistently on a
daily basis to keep it under control.

To my knowledge, medical specialists who use IPL make no claims that it helps
with ocular rosacea. I hope you are able to see an opthamologist regularly,
although I must confess that my rosacea support groups, along with Dr. Nase's
book, have given me more help and hope than any medical professional.

Although the routine that helps my eyes function normally involves applying
heat to my eyelids to stimulate the meibomian glands, I would caution you about
heat, simply because you are experiencing the "heat radiation" described in
your email. Dr. Nase has offered the same caution, having written in the past
that he flushed so easily, he was concerned that heat applied to his eyelids
might make the flushing worse.

I relate to your description about the sunburn sensation, although I have
never had it anywhere but in my face. But that "sunburn feeling" is precisely
how I feel when my rosacea gets out of control. I was due for my four week
return for IPL on December 10, but I asked the doctor's office to move it to
December 22 because I was scheduled to be out of town until then. That sunburn
sensation started to return about a week ago, and I know from past experience
it is because I made the mistake of thinking I could last longer than four
weeks in between treatments. Now we'll have to move backwards in terms of the
energy levels I'll be able to tolerate from the machine, which means I'll have
to start hoping for progress all over again. I've come to accept the $200 I
pay every month for treatment as part of my monthly expenditures.

I saw today a website that offers personal experiences with IPL for rosacea.
It is located at www.rosacea.co.uk/?treatmenttype=Photoderm. It discusses
specific photoderm treatments given at specific centers. It has a column for
negative comments and a column for positive ones. I found it interesting
that the positive column is much, much longer than the negative one.
I'm guessing Brady has several other websites you could look at, as well.

I'm not a medical expert, but I'm wondering if you can get the "sunburn"
sensation of your skin enough under control, then perhaps you could move on to
more extensive eye treatment than the scrubs, eyedrops, and doxycycline.
Again,
I cannot emphasize enough my lack of medical expertise, but I can emphasize
my bad experiences with this condition and offer all my empathy. Having eyes
that feel terrible makes life very difficult indeed.

I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that you discover a solution that will
provide some relief for you.

Sincerely,

Alice Haddow


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