a Begoun's Take On PhotoDerm

[Guest guest]

Hi, I subscribe to a Begoun's Cosmetics Cop newsletter and saw

that she responded to a reader's question about PhotoDerm. She has a

bit of a jaundiced view when it comes to cosmetic industry claims, but

does agree that PhotoDerm does help with eliminating visibly broken

blood vessels and surface redness.

Matija

Dear a,

Have you heard of PhotoFacial Treatments? What do you think of them?

There

are two Web sites, www.cosmetixlaser.com and www.photofacial.com,

that talk

about the procedure. I hope you can check it out and let me know what

you

think.

Rory, via e-mail

Dear Rory,

The physician associated with the Web site for the " PhotoFacial " is

Dr.

Bitter Sr., M.D., whose use of the term " PhotoFacial " seems

to be the

only thing he has invented. The PhotoFacial is done with a PhotoDerm

pulse

light or flash-lamp machine sold by ESC Medical, which has no

connection to

Bitter other than that he, among hundreds of other physicians, uses

it.

The PhotoDerm machine is similar to a laser but it is not a laser,

rather it

creates a pulse of intense light that is used most frequently as a

way to

reduce or eliminate surfaced capillaries, veins, port wine stains,

and other

vascular problems that show up on the surface of skin. It is also

used under

other names for hair removal, but that's another story.

How the PhotoDerm works is that the heat penetration of the pulse

light is

effective at coagulating blood flow in veins and capillaries,

reducing the

resulting redness these can cause on the surface of the face or legs.

This is

why the PhotoDerm can help with rosacea, which is the major claim to

fame for

this machine. But the information quoted on Bitter's site is

misleading.

First, Bitter's " observations " are hardly objective and his claims

about

using the PhotoDerm for wrinkles are not substantiated in published

research.

Here is one of the typical studies that appears on the Web site from

the

company selling the machine. " Published in Lasers in Surgery and

Medicine,

February 2000... Twenty-five [out of 31] subjects showed some

improvement in

the quality of skin. No subjects were found to have total resolution

of

rhytids [wrinkles]. Conclusion: Nonlaser intense pulsed light may

effectively

improve some facial rhytids. Such improvement can occur without

epidermal

ablation [ab!

rading or evaporating the skin, as with lasers]. " It is important to

note

that this was not a long-term study, so it doesn't make clear whether

or not

the improvement was just a temporary side effect caused by the

swelling that

the PhotoDerm can produce.

What is significant is that the claims made for improvement in

reducing and

eliminating the appearance of veins have a lot of substantiation.

Another

study on the ESC Web site, published in the Journal of Cutaneous

Laser

Therapy for January 1999, found that " The PhotoDerm... provides a

highly

effective and safe alternative to the laser for treatment of facial

vascular

lesions. The device may achieve improved results for lesions that are

resistant to laser therapy. The rate and degree of cosmetic side

effects are

considerably less than with laser treatment. " This was based on " 188

patients

who returned for follow-up after 2 months, 174 achieved 75% to 100%

clearance

in one to four treatment sessions. The post-treatment side effects

were

minimal and well tolerated by the patients. There were no instances

of

scarring or other permanent side effects. "

While any physician utilizing the PhotoDerm machine can get the same

results,

when it comes to wrinkles Bitter is stretching the truth about what

is being

used and what his overexaggerated results really are all about.