Is laser resurfacing safe on my rosacea?

Question:

Is laser resurfacing safe on rosacea?

Answer:

Rosacea is best treated with the V-Beam or pulse dye laser.  This is a laser that passes through the overlying skin and targets especially the redness and broken blood vessels common in rosacea.  Laser resurfacing may actually cause a flare-up of rosacea given the inflammation to the overlying skin.  It depends on how severe your rosacea is.  If you are looking to treat that alone, I would use the pulse dye laser.  If you are looking to treat wrinkling and sun damage and are trying to do a laser resurfacing for those issues, I would have a discussion as to whether this is the best treatment for you given the rosacea.