10 replies to this topic

[sanjoseskin]

Apparently, this is the cure for both acne and oily skin.

It is very similar to Blue light therapy with Levulan. For those of you who have had Levulan with Blue light, you know that one of the wonderful side effects is a reduction in oil production. The Levulan once activated by the blue light basically destroys the oil producing sebaceous glands.

I've had Levulan with Blue light, and I loved the reduction in oil production, however the effects only lasted about a month for me (temporary). Then you have to repeat the treatment.

Well, it seems a spin off on Levulan with blue light is LEVULAN WITH RED LIGHT, administered as a long duration high dose. Essentially, the treatment kills off your sebaceous glands for good, and puts a stop to oil and acne.






How safe is this in the long run? I don't know
I know that sebaceous glands and oil production are a good thing and actually help the skin on your face heal after injury.

[crab76]

I've been doing so much research on this treatment and want to do it soooo bad! But I hear so many different opinions. I read ALOT of great things about it online. But then my dermatologist says my acne will just come back and thinks I should do accutane. And she's not going to make money off me being on accutane so it would be in her best interest to let me do the PDT cuz it's super expensive and not covered by insurance.

I'm so torn on what to do. I don't want to spend all this money on the PDT and then still have to go the accutane route in the end anyways.

Anyone out there have a good result with this?

[sanjoseskin]

I've been doing so much research on this treatment and want to do it soooo bad! But I hear so many different opinions. I read ALOT of great things about it online. But then my dermatologist says my acne will just come back and thinks I should do accutane. And she's not going to make money off me being on accutane so it would be in her best interest to let me do the PDT cuz it's super expensive and not covered by insurance.

I'm so torn on what to do. I don't want to spend all this money on the PDT and then still have to go the accutane route in the end anyways.

Anyone out there have a good result with this?

Your acne can come back after you finish a course of Accutane too, so that doesn't really make sense.

I've never done Levulan w/Red Light, but I have done Levulan w/Blue light and it WORKS. It gets rid of acne and STOPS oil production.

Shop around. When I was looking to do Levulan w/Blue light I called many doctor offices. Some were as little as $150 per treatment, some as high as $500 per treatment. Some also give you a discount if you commit to a series of treatments.

Also, I read a research article somewhere that the blue light alone without the Levulan is just as effective in treating acne. Some places charge as little as $50 dollars per blue light only session.

I believe in blue light, it really works. I recently purchased a Tanda Acne Clearing Device with the blue head. I think it was $299 or $199 I'm not sure, anyway it seems to be working. I would suggest buying the Tanda and getting your acne under control. It's a good investment. Doesn't help much with oil production though, at least not yet.

I too want to do the Levulan w/Red light, but the thought of permanently killing my oil glands for the rest of my life kind of scares me.

[paigems]

I actually called Rox Anderson's office about this, and the lady I got on the phone was extremely unhelpful. She was very enthusiastic about the treatment, but she really couldn't tell me the permanence of this type of treatment. English wasn't her first language, and I think there was a bit of a communication issue because of that. Anyway, this seems like a good solution if it's permanent. If it's not permanent and the sebaceous glands continue to just grow back then I think it's too harsh. If that's the case then I think the future soltion to oily skin would lie more likely in something like topical antiandrogens or microbotox.

[jmjr]

I'm a senior citizen and just under went 3 levulan and blue light treatments for extremely oily skin/sebaceous hyperplasia. I saw only a slight decrease in the oil. One week ago I kept the levulan on my face for 7 hours and then they hit it with the red light which is actually some kind of a laser I guess. My face was extremely red and then peeled. It still is slightly red. It had a much greater impact on the oil. I washed my face at 12:30pm and it's now almost 9:00pm and I'm getting ready to wash it again. Before I could have washed my face every hour. I'm thinking I probably need 1 more treatment. I wish I would have gotten the red light initially as it probably would have saved me some time and money.

[vincevega]

I'm a senior citizen and just under went 3 levulan and blue light treatments for extremely oily skin/sebaceous hyperplasia. I saw only a slight decrease in the oil. One week ago I kept the levulan on my face for 7 hours and then they hit it with the red light which is actually some kind of a laser I guess. My face was extremely red and then peeled. It still is slightly red. It had a much greater impact on the oil. I washed my face at 12:30pm and it's now almost 9:00pm and I'm getting ready to wash it again. Before I could have washed my face every hour. I'm thinking I probably need 1 more treatment. I wish I would have gotten the red light initially as it probably would have saved me some time and money.

That sounds promising. I hope the redness gets better.

How much do you think the red light treatment (now that sounds funny!) decreased your oil production? Do you think the effects are going to last? How much did it cost you?

Thank you.

[iambung]

where can i buy Levulan?

[austra]

I'm a senior citizen and just under went 3 levulan and blue light treatments for extremely oily skin/sebaceous hyperplasia. I saw only a slight decrease in the oil. One week ago I kept the levulan on my face for 7 hours and then they hit it with the red light which is actually some kind of a laser I guess. My face was extremely red and then peeled. It still is slightly red. It had a much greater impact on the oil. I washed my face at 12:30pm and it's now almost 9:00pm and I'm getting ready to wash it again. Before I could have washed my face every hour. I'm thinking I probably need 1 more treatment. I wish I would have gotten the red light initially as it probably would have saved me some time and money.

Please tell us if it improves your sebaceous hyperplasia, I'd be very interested to know.

This does sound quite an extreme treatment, if the main goal is necrosis of sebaceous glands. I wonder what side effects this would have in the short and long term.

[jmjr]

I believe it suppressed the oiliness by 50%. I had a package of 4 for $1200 but I probably wasted 2 treatments on blue light which did not help the oiliness but did help my rosacea which the red light treatment seemed to aggravate and I still have some residual redness. I probably could use another red light treatment to suppress some more of the oiliness. If I can get this under control I think it will be permanent.

[dave6677]

Does long term use of this damage or age your skin?

[LewisS]

Having no sebaceous glands would probably cause your face to look like a wrinkled ball-sack by the age of 30.