V Beam or IPL for Mild Rosacea?

Fractional laser is an amazing and highly effective treatment in our office. We use the laser treatment to help with acne scars, large pores, fine wrinkles, tissue collagen loss, scars, sebaceous hyperplasia, active acne, and for brightening dark pigmentation. Although there are very strong fractional lasers such as CO2 laser, we use lighter treatments for corrective skincare and maintenance of results. Our Thulium fractional laser, clear and brilliant laser, and Ultra Thulium laser are excellent options in our clinic. We also perform CO2 fractional and erbium depending on skin tone and tolerance for downtime. Patients do have to use a Melarase cream before and after treatment to help further reduce pigmentation after laser. Dark spots can improve with these treatments. I recommend fractional laser for incisional scars as well, especially after plastic surgery.

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

For treating rosacea, I would recommend IPL over VBeam. IPL is generally faster and less painful than VBeam. 

The device of choice for mild rosacea would be IPL or BBL, not Vbeam. Vbeam can cause more bruising and downtime, although for more severe rosacea or for larger vessels, Vbeam is preferred. ~ Dr. Benjamin Barankin, Toronto Dermatology Centre.

Both V beam and IPL treatments are beneficial for the redness and spider veins of rosacea. The most important consideration is the experience of the technician performing the treatment.

more powerful and less likely to cause issues due to its cooling mechanism...works quickly and should improve your face in short order...and to prolong the benefits, avoid excessive heat or irritation...take cooler showers, drink less hot coffee, avoid really spicy foods, take a cold soda to the pool, etc...rosacea is a lifelong condition from whenever it starts...maybe a cure someday, but for now treatment and especially with the VBeam
 

I do both IPL and Vbeam for rosacea with great success.  If the vessels are big and the rosacea severe, I prefer to start with Vbeam as I believe its more powerful, but it can cause a lot of swelling.  If the vessels are small and the patient complains more of flushing, I would start with the IPL.  Both work.  Sometimes I let the patient decide since the Vbeam does have some downtime associated with it.  You need to find a dermatologist with experience in both and that you are comfortable with. 

Although both IPL's and the Candela Vbeam can be used to target capillaries that cause facial redness and flushing, I would have to consider the Vbeam to be the safer treatment. One aspect of safety that the Vbeam has that no other vascular treatment device has is cryogen cooling to protect the surface of the skin from becoming too hot during treatment. The primary risk in treating bloodvessels with light energy devices is that the brown pigment in the skin will absorb too much heat and will blister with potential scarring.The cryogen cooling protects the skin from this reaction. Some IPL machines have no skin cooling at all, some have what is called "contact cooling ", which is less effective.The second feature that the Vbeam has is a much greater range of treatment settings so that the blood vessels can be precisely targeted.