Visited Dr. Yee in Houston...verdict is I have blocked meibomian glands

[ut_longhorn]

So I finally have a real diagnosis after 3 other doctors. It's refreshing that I finally have a diagnosis and I can start to do attack the problem. The only problem is that he said that my glands are completely blocked. No oil coming out. He checked for glandular drop out and says for the most part the glands are alive, with a coupe of drop outs, but my glands are just plugged up.

So he has prescribed me to use restasis daily.
Eye blinking exercises to try to get the glands flowing again...followed by rinsing of the eyes with saline to get all the irritants out.
I also asked if he would prescribe me doxycycline which he agreed to.
continue flax and fish oil
he suggested i go to my internist to check on my cholesterol levels.

that's about it. i guess i'm just worried because his prognosis that plugged up glands will flow again smoothly didn't sound all that positive he said for some, the glands just don't get unplugged. has anyone else been completely plugged up and then have been able to reverse the condition?

[JJdryeye]

I'm not as knowledgeable as some people on here about this, but I surprised he didn't recommend something to unblock the glands, such as manual expression, probing, lipiflow, warm compresses or something. What are the eye blinking excersises he prescribed?
What did he use to diagnose that they are blocked? A meibography?

[Rebecca Petris]

Did he attempt to express them during the visit? Any theories about reasons for the blockage? (sometimes visit to a smart dermatologist helpful too... )

[ut_longhorn]

@ JJ :
So...he recommended lipiflow, but said that it wasn't a cure all saying that in my case I needed to get some of the blockage taken care of before lipiflow.
He did say maybe he would refer me to someone for probing in the future, but I think he wanted to start a little conservative. The exercises were actually pretty simple. 9 hard blinks in a row (forced hard) then rinse with a saline solution. He said he's not a fan of lid massage therapy. To diagnose, he just pressed under a slit lamp. And to look at atrophied glands, I guess he flashed a light under my lids.

@ Rebecca:
He didn't try to express with any tools...just pressed on my lids with a cotton swab and said nothing was flowing. He said he only does expressing with lipiflow. He didn't give me any theories about why they got where they are...just told me to get my blood work done.
And thanks for suggesting a derm. I'll def keep that in mind.