LipiFlow device - what the????

[JJdryeye]

I'm thinking of having Lipiflow done, and I've read that many doctors are performing Lid margin debridement prior to Lipiflow. I'm guessing most are just following Dr. Korb's lead on this. Does anyone have any insight into the importance of the doing the debridement vs. not? I've seen Dr. Korb's publication on this, but I was hoping someone here might have additional insight. The doctors near me don't seem to offer debridement, so I'm trying to decide if it makes that big of a difference to justify travel time and extra costs.

[Spoon]

Does anyone have one or more of the disposable Lipiflow activators (part that goes in the eye) that they took home from their treatment? If so please private message me if you would sell it to me. Thanks

[mooner]

hi can we get an update?

[Mazza818]

Hi all
This post is now 2 months post Lipiflow.

Had a review appointment with my doctor; the glands that were opened using lipiflow and manual compression by the doctor, some were blocked again. that tells me that once the glands dont function properly they never will. in other words if its accutane induced glands dysfucntion it probably never will function right.

its quite sad and disappointing for me. i was hoping that once my glands were opened it would stay open if i did daily warm compresses; but in my case it wasnt the case. some glands clogged up.

thank you everyone.

[pattyleo]

Hi Mazza, how did it work for you? Did you notice much improvement in you MGD? The lipid oil my glands are producing is very thick and white, like mucus hence why my glands got clogged/ blocked and i ended up with a couple of chalazion. Lipiflow doesn't improve the quality of the meibum so in my case I don't really see the point. IPL is an option but it is still $600 for three treatments.

[Mazza818]

That is crazy. I've heard it is about $1500 here in Australia. Taking advantage of desperate dry eye sufferers. I know the equipment is expensive however the prices being charged are way over the top. Only the rich can afford this treatment.

In Melbourne I got lipiflow done for $2100. very expensive indeed

[Mazza818]

Hello everybody,

first of all, English is not my mother language, so if I make some mistakes I'm sorry.

I was suffering from MGD for 7 years of my life. I'm 27 now.

It all started at the age of 20 when I took an acne medicine Isotretinoin. This medicine has clogged the meibom glands outlets. My eyes become dryer and dryer over the 7 years and I didn't know what was the reason for it. I went to doctors but they all didn't know and couldn't help me at all. Maybe 3 years ago I found a doctor who could tell me that I was suffering from MGD, so I started lid hygiene every day before going to bed. But it did not help, my eyes still became dryer. I trid lots of eye drops, became vegan (more or less), started drinking lots of water, stopped drinking coffee, stopped eating sweets, went to bed very early and tried to sleep a long time. I didn't go to partys anymore and stopped all friendship because it was horrible to live with my dry eyes.

I investigated on the internet for 7 years what I can do to get normal eyes again. I found out that there's the possibility to do meibom gland probing and my eyes were broken enough so I decided to see a doctor in Heidelberg, Germany, who I found on the internet. Fortunately, this doctor does not do probing but has a system LipiFlow from TearScience which could open the clogged glands. I didn't know about LipFlow at that time. He was the first doctor who could tell my with LipiView that nearly all my glands were closed and this was the reason for my severe dry eyes. Besides, he told me that my glands looked pretty good, all of them produced enough oil. So he offered me to do LipiFlow for 1100€ for both eyes and I accepted.

My LipiFlow treatment was done nearly 1 month ago now, 3 weeks after the treatment I went to the doctor again and he told me that on one eye, only 2 glands were not open. This is a very good result. All the other glands are open now and they are producing lots of oil. If I take a look in the mirror very closely I can see the oil on my lids! When I blink I can feel the tears in my eyes. My eyes have become whiter again and the veins left and right to the pupil aren't that visible as before LipiFlow. I stopped doing lid hygiene 2 weeks ago and I don't see any need to do it again. I only need to drop in max. 2 eye drops per eye a day. This is very low because before LipiFlow I could drop in 1 eye drop every 10 minutes and my eyes still felt dry and burned.

I can say that my meibom gland disfunction has healed. I hope that it will last forever and that I don't have to repeat LipiFlow. But due to the fact that my disfunction has been caused by an acne medicine (which is my opinion) and not caused by old age, I think that I don't have to repeat it so early.

Of course I don't expect miracles. My eyes have been dry since 7 years now and so they will never be normal. But I can live with this condition now.

Regards, DeyDey89

Hey deydey

Your story is quite similar to mine; If you want you can read my post regarding my experience of dry eyes and the lipiflow

[SirJoker]

Hi,

as some people said before. Don't get afraid of that. My friend get through this procedure and he had felt the same thing. The doctor, however, told him that it's normal. But it won't hurt to ask the doctor if he can't help you somehow.

[BMR777]

may i know where you got the treatment?

Yeah, I got it done at Geneva Eye Clinic in Geneva, IL about an hour outside of Chicago. It was $400 USD per eye.

[Mazza818]

Thank you Alley and Savino. My eyes are feeling better today than yesterday, back to where they were pre-Lipiflow at least. Time will tell if they get better.

may i know where you got the treatment?

[Mazza818]

Thank you Mazza818 for posting your results! I had Lipiflow done a few days ago and I am hoping to have the same results as you. I am also doing the warm compresses and fish oil, plus Omega 3s.

Did you by chance have a sticky feeling in your eyes after a few days after Lipiflow? I'm finding I'm waking up seeing oil around my eyes, but it is a bit thick and sticky. I am hoping this goes away and things normalize in a few weeks.

Hi there,

No I didnt experience that after lipiflow. however I was experiencing minor stickiness prior to treatment that was due to moderate to severe dryness. my blinks would feel little sticky at time, not all the times. hope yours goes away soon

[teddy1324]

While it's great to hear you have had an improvement. Mazza, I had the procedure about four weeks ago and have had absolutely no improvement at all. That's pretty curious considering we both had isotretinoin induced MGD. My advice to readers is that you should only go for it if you are sure that it is clogged glands that are causing your symptoms - and that hot compresses aren't enough to unclog them. In my case I was sceptical at the optometrists claim that my glands were clogged. it's £1600 I won't see again.

[BMR777]

Thank you Alley and Savino. My eyes are feeling better today than yesterday, back to where they were pre-Lipiflow at least. Time will tell if they get better.

[Alley07]

Hi, I had lipiflow done in Jan 2016 and yes for the first week they aren't very comfortable because they have cleaned out your glands and it takes a little while for the oil to come back. I noticed an improvement around the 3 week mark.. but after that I was back to normal. I really do hope you have better luck than I did. I think it is normal though for them to feel worse at the beginning. Can't hurt to ask the doctor who performed the procedure though to ease your mind.

[Deydey89]

Hello,

if I remember correctly I took 20mg Isotretinoin/Roaccutane per day. After some weeks (I don't really remember, maybe 6 weeks) I took 10mg of that poison. I took it for 6 months. I realized dry eyes since I started taking it. I stopped taking it around December 2010.

I'm still very happy because my glands are still open today and my eyes are healing permanentely.

Regards, Deydey