EXTRA: Rxtra | Ask Dr. Luftman

Wednesday February 28, 2001

Ask Dr. Luftman

Q: I've been plagued with broken blood vessels. Is there any way I can avoid them and how can I treat them?"

A: There's a lot we can do for this. The most common cause of these broken blood vessels is sun damage. The next most common reason would be pregnancy, being on the birth control pill. As far as the treatment we start off cauterizing the individual blood vessels or we can use lasers to vaporize the blood vessels. If you have a number of vessels on your face, we can do something called photo facial which is a high intensity light treatment.

Q: Dr Luftman, when shaving I get razor burn or the occasional ingrown hair. What can I do to stop it?

A: That's a big problem for a lot of men. Really just starting off with a good shaving gel or cream on moist skin then using a disposable razor you don't re-use more than two times is very helpful in preventing this. If you were to develop some of these ingrown hairs or bumps just getting a 1-% hydrocortisone over the counter and applying that twice a day will help alleviate the bumps.

Q: I thought acne was only for teenagers but I still seem to get the occasional breakout. Is there anything I can do about that?

A: This may actually be adult acne or acne rosacea and the cause of acne rosacea can be genetic or certain foods can make it worse. So going on a special diet can be helpful and also there's a prescription cream that can help quite a bit.