Generalized Essential Telangiectasia

Question: Is anyone familiar with the condition Generalized Essential Telangiectasia? it's a condition that i've been diagnosed with that I am told is quite rare. It doesn't cause any pain but it makes the small red capillaries dilate, giving a red appearance to the skin. I was wondering if anyone else had this condition or knows someone that does and how they treated it. I would really appreciate any useful info. Thanks ;-)

Answer: "Destruction with the flashlamp-pumped pulsed dye laser and long-pulse, frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser have been reported to be successful in certain cases. Clearance of telangiectases has been achieved with acyclovir and ketoconazole; however, the vast majority of patients with GET do not improve with these medications. The literature also contains reports of successful treatment with oral tetracyclines. While venous telangiectases are quite responsive to sclerotherapy, capillary telangiectases are usually resistant to sclerotherapy." I pulled this from a couple of websites. Sit down with your dermatologist and review your treatment options. Your doctor knows which specific type of telangiecstasia you have and if you're a good candidate for any of the treatments available.

Question: Relieve pain of telangiectasia? I have generalized essential telangiectasias on my feet and they are producing a burning pain. Any ideas about how to reduce the pain?

Answer: Meditation and hypnosis have been shown to significantly affect the perception of pain in many areas of medicine including dermatology. Special relaxation and visualization techniques can help re-wire the brain to feel pain less in frequency and/or intensity. Hypnosis has been particularly effective in pain conditions where normal medications and therapies fail, such as irritable bowel syndrome, generalized chronic muscle pain and fibromyalgia. The University of Massachusetts' Stress Reduction Clinic is a leading center for using clinical meditation in pain management: http://www.umassmed.edu/Content.aspx?id=… Here's a cool study on the neurological relationship between pain and meditation: Neuroimaging of meditation’s effect on brain reactivity to pain http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/article… More common therapies for vascular and dermatological conditions can include sclerotherapy and flashlamp and laser therapy. In 2001 a study found that the Nd:YAG laser can be effective in treating GET. You should check out some medical journals like Dermatology, Dermatologic Surgery, and the Journal of Cutaneous Pathology, which often have articles about new and emerging treatments and techniques.