Vaniqa

[Guest Emily Ray]

Hi Everyone

I was watching TV today and saw an ad for Vaniqa A prescription cream you apply to your face to stop unwanted hair growth. It works by interfering with an enzyme required for hair growth. It takes four to eight weeks to start seeing results but when used in conjunction with laser hair removal the satisfaction level of the laser treatment went way up. I am going to go to my moms doctor and ask for a prescription to try it out. I will write my results once I start using it. If anyone has heard anything about it I would love to know what your experience has been like.

Huggs

Emily

[Carolyn Marie]

Thanks for the post, Emily. There is some information on the Web, including this from WebMD: http://www.webmd.com/drugs/drug-19859-Vaniqa+Top.aspx?drugid=19859&drugname=Vaniqa+Top&source=0

However, anyone considering this drug should discuss it with your dermatologist or family doctor. It has quite a few listed

side effects, and it does not cause hair to stop growing by itself. It needs to be combined with other techniques. But it does

sound like it could be a good aide with LHR or electrolysis.

Carolyn Marie

[Guest KimberlyF]

I have a 3 mo supply of generic that was shipped this week from a Canadian pharmacy. You need a valid prescription but the cost was I believe around $67 for 3 months including shipping. I'm going to give it a try for a few months and see if I notice any changes.

I also found this little blurb pretty interesting:

http://www.hairremovalforum.com/vaniqa_cream.htm

Laser hair removal technology has made great strides in the numbers of hair and skin types it's effective for, but the technology still has its limitations. In this sense, laser hair removal has found a new best friend. Clinical studies have demonstrated that Vaniqa can actually improve laser hair removal results. In one study with Vaniqa cream and lasers, after 6 months of treatment, 96% of patients received permanent and total hair removal.

[Carolyn Marie]

Kim, it sounds encouraging, but the fact that only one study is mentioned, it's mentioned on an LHR site, no information concerning

the study is posted (links, references, etc.) and they don;t say who funded the study, all makes me a tad skeptical. I'm not

saying it isn't all true, but I'll wait for more info.

Carolyn Marie

[Guest KimberlyF]

Kim, it sounds encouraging, but the fact that only one study is mentioned, it's mentioned on an LHR site, no information concerning

the study is posted (links, references, etc.) and they don;t say who funded the study, all makes me a tad skeptical. I'm not

saying it isn't all true, but I'll wait for more info.

Carolyn Marie

Well I like to google so I gave it a go. Here's another site I found.

http://www.skintherapyletter.com/2005/10.10/1.html

This was in 2005 and at the bottom it references two studies.

# Tan E, Hamzavi I, Shapiro J, Lui H. Combined treatment with laser and topical eflornithine is more effective than laser treatment alone for removing unwanted facial hair - a placebo controlled trial. Presented at: The 4th Intercontinental Meeting of Hair Research Societies; June 17-19, 2004; Berlin, Germany. Abstract #P10.144.

# Smith SR, Piacquadio D, Beger B. A randomized, double-blind, vehicle controlled, bilateral comparison study of the efficacy and safety of eflornithine HCl 13.9% cream in combination with laser in the treatment of unwanted facial hair in women. Presented at: The 61st Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology; March 21-26, 2003; San Francisco, CA. Abstract #P649.

Of course as usual none of these products were tried on TSs and Vaniqa only seems to work on 60% of females to begin with, but if it does work on you it seems pretty effective and a low cost way to go to either supplement LHR or replace it altogether if you are prepared to apply it twice a day for the rest of your life.

Kim