Question
I have overlap connective tissue disease, including CREST. My symptoms are not severe and the scleroderma seems to be what I present with. I have red dots all over my face and have undergone a couple of IPL treatments, with 3 more to go in a series. What is the effect of IPL on someone with scleroderma? If it's contraindicated, why is it?

Answer
Take this for what it's worth - I'm not a doctor and I've never had IPL.  You don't say, but I assume the red dots you have on your face are telangiectasias, very common early in limited scleroderma (formerly called CREST) and late in diffuse scleroderma.  I've never heard of IPL used to treat them - they are made up of tiny, damaged blood vessels, so I'm not sure how IPL would benefit them.  I've heard of some laser treatments for them, but in my own experience with telangiectasias, they grow and spread over time, so I'm also not sure how much laser would help unless it's repeated (and repeated, and repeated...)

If you haven't already, you need to discuss this treatment with your rheumatologist.  For my part, I would never do any procedure to increase the tightness of my skin.  I risk that every day just by having scleroderma.