LipiFlow device - what the????

[skeeterlondon]

Hi all

Saw the doc at 2 month follow up he didn't say anything other than, it doesn't work for some and can take up to 8 months for others. It seems that it only works in mild cases and not for people whose case is already very chronic. Its also so expensive. I paid almost £2000! for nothing but at the same time could not live knowing there was something out there that could potentially help me that i had not tried.

its now 4 months post and nothing has improved. i would say that before lipiflow i had a heavy top eyelid all the time, this disappeared after the treatment. But i also got a lot of inflammation on the lids after the treatment so perhaps that set the whole thing off again! I don't think lipiflow treats the route cause because no one knows what that is.

[pattyleo]

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.

[duckman]

i would try lipiflow but its so expensive in the uk its 150 for the assesment a alone and then £500 for each eye which takes it to £1150 which is for me totally rediculous pricing for something you dont know will work

[FMel]

Hello everyone, first of all I'd like to apologise if my English is not perfect but I'm Italian, I hope I'll be able to explain myself.
I hope also you will not get bored reading all this story, but I really need help.

I am a guy aged 23 and one year ago I started having eye problems.
As a child I brought the glasses, I was astigmatic, but my problem went improving enough, year by year, so that now I no longer need them.
Anyway, the real hell began last year.

In the spring I began to have the EYE AREA (lids and eye contour) VERY FLUSHED, and within a few days the redness began to become an itchy sensation inside. I noticed some kind of FILAMENTS creating on the ocular surface. The feeling was that of a continuous itching, and the only scratching gave me relief (worsening the situation around the eyes, more and more red). I went to my ophthalmologist and I was told that I had a blepharitis, she prescribed me one antibiotic and one anti-allergic eyewash, to be taken together. I noticed that the antibiotic eye drops reduced the production of these filaments, while the antiallergic seemed to me doing anything. After a couple of weeks I went back to the doctor and I was told that the problem had disappeared, with a reduced production of these filaments. But the problem was still there, and with the arrival of summer, I decided to continue using the Betabioptal (antibiotic eye drops with chloramphenicol and betamethasone). The ITCHY SENSATION in my eyes remained, but smaller, and the filaments produced were concentrated in the corner of the eye (the one close to the nose). The eye, once I got tanned, remained red, but you could not notice that.
I then spent the summer quite well, using, not with a specific criteria, the betabioptal about once a day.


The summer was over, and once I was not tanned anymore, I started to see the eye area problem back (some mornings when I got up I looked like a heroin addict), so I decided to go to a SECOND EYE SPECIALIST. This doctor, after having blamed me for the use of cortisone for such a long period of time, measured my eye pressure (found regular) and prescribed me other drops, this time without cortisone. Needless to say that as soon as I stopped the use of cortisone, the problem became worse, despite this eye doctor told me that it was nothing serious and that, with the use of these eye drops, I was almost healed.

Winter came and the filaments, which meanwhile my eyes were producing continuously, became hard, giving me a terrible feeling under the eyelids, so as to force me to stay in the bathroom even an hour to try to remove them. It became a HELL. The eye and eyelids were always red, like a heroin addict, eyes began to alternate moments of excessive tearing in drying times, while the production of these filaments continued.
The first thought when I got in any place was going to the bathroom, to remove the filaments and control the redness of the eyes. The nightmare was even worse when playing football or doing sports: finished playing the redness becomes terrible, both eyes have broken capillaries and I look like a panda, with two red spots instead of eyes.

I did allergy testing and found an ALLERGY, light, to a tree called parietaria, but I do not have any other allergic symptom.

So I went to a THIRD EYE DOCTOR, who prescribed me a cure encompassing everything:
-TETRACICLINE EYEWASH, to eradicate any Demodex, proved useless
-ANTIALLERGIC EYEWASH KETOFTIL, which to me seems to do nothing
-BASSADO, An ORAL ANTIBIOTIC, which produced strong side effects; anyway, I used it for 20 days, did nothing.
-CORTISONE EYEWASH, which, in my case, are the only really functioning therapy.

With CORTISONE the overproduction of the Meibomian glands stops, the tearing is normal, and I do not alternate continuous dry / massive tear phases, with the continuous production of these filaments.
It's clear that the cortisone eyewash is a temporary cure, and can not be used as a definitive therapy.
I began to also use a SHAMPOO for the periocular hygiene and I noticed that, during washing, some kind of SEBUM CONGLOMERATES come off from under the upper eyelids.

The symptoms were not improving, so I went to a FOURTH OPHTHALMOLOGIST, considered an expert of the eyelid.
He confirmed to me a dysfunction of the Meibomian glands, not serious (I assure you that my life has deteriorated so much in the last year), with a posterior blepharitis. He told me to stop the use of eye washes, except for the anti-allergic.
He prescribed me:
-WARM COMPRESSES every evening for ten minutes
-EYE LASH CLEANING WITH A OPHTHALMIC GAUZE
-ARTIFICIAL EYEDROPS 4-5 TIMES A DAY
-OMEGA 3-6

With this new therapy eyes give me less hassle during the day (I have no sensation of a foreign body) but continue to produce these filaments, during washing, in large quantities. Today, when I was back home, I went in front of the mirror, I massaged my eyes and two yellow conglomerates fell down.
After doing the washings, eyes feel very tired and begin to shed tears at random, alternating dry phases.

It's something terrible, really. I started to get annoyed even in front of the light in the morning (sometimes, not always, and I do not understand the cause of that) and I see no solution to this problem.

Overall, I tried 10-15 eye drops, antibiotics and anti-allergic, in one year, with no results. The eyelids (just close to the lashes) are red, when I feel an itchy sensation inside my eyes suddenly the counter become red (wtf?).
I started to do a lot of research on the Internet, in Italian we have very little information, and I found this forum.




I'd really like if some of you guys could give me some tips, also regarding LIPIFLOW. CAN IT BE A SOLUTION?

This doctor told me about this chance, but, looking on the Internet, I found very conflicting opinions. It would be great if someone tried it and could gave me advice, perhaps in a similar condition: I have read there are different kind of MGD, in my case there is an OVERPRODUCTION OF OIL, apparently no-sense and poor quality.


I really hope someone could help me.
Thanks for reading

[FMel]

Hello everyone, first of all I'd like to apologise if my English is not perfect but I'm Italian, I hope I'll be able to explain myself.
I hope also you will not get bored reading all this story, but I really need help.

I am a guy aged 23 and one year ago I started having eye problems.
As a child I brought the glasses, I was astigmatic, but my problem went improving enough, year by year, so that now I no longer need them.
Anyway, the real hell began last year.

In the spring I began to have the EYE AREA (lids and eye contour) VERY FLUSHED, and within a few days the redness began to become an itchy sensation inside. I noticed some kind of FILAMENTS creating on the ocular surface. The feeling was that of a continuous itching, and the only scratching gave me relief (worsening the situation around the eyes, more and more red). I went to my ophthalmologist and I was told that I had a blepharitis, she prescribed me one antibiotic and one anti-allergic eyewash, to be taken together. I noticed that the antibiotic eye drops reduced the production of these filaments, while the antiallergic seemed to me doing anything. After a couple of weeks I went back to the doctor and I was told that the problem had disappeared, with a reduced production of these filaments. But the problem was still there, and with the arrival of summer, I decided to continue using the Betabioptal (antibiotic eye drops with chloramphenicol and betamethasone). The ITCHY SENSATION in my eyes remained, but smaller, and the filaments produced were concentrated in the corner of the eye (the one close to the nose). The eye, once I got tanned, remained red, but you could not notice that.
I then spent the summer quite well, using, not with a specific criteria, the betabioptal about once a day.


The summer was over, and once I was not tanned anymore, I started to see the eye area problem back (some mornings when I got up I looked like a heroin addict), so I decided to go to a SECOND EYE SPECIALIST. This doctor, after having blamed me for the use of cortisone for such a long period of time, measured my eye pressure (found regular) and prescribed me other drops, this time without cortisone. Needless to say that as soon as I stopped the use of cortisone, the problem became worse, despite this eye doctor told me that it was nothing serious and that, with the use of these eye drops, I was almost healed.

Winter came and the filaments, which meanwhile my eyes were producing continuously, became hard, giving me a terrible feeling under the eyelids, so as to force me to stay in the bathroom even an hour to try to remove them. It became a HELL. The eye and eyelids were always red, like a heroin addict, eyes began to alternate moments of excessive tearing in drying times, while the production of these filaments continued.
The first thought when I got in any place was going to the bathroom, to remove the filaments and control the redness of the eyes. The nightmare was even worse when playing football or doing sports: finished playing the redness becomes terrible, both eyes have broken capillaries and I look like a panda, with two red spots instead of eyes.

I did allergy testing and found an ALLERGY, light, to a tree called parietaria, but I do not have any other allergic symptom.

So I went to a THIRD EYE DOCTOR, who prescribed me a cure encompassing everything:
-TETRACICLINE EYEWASH, to eradicate any Demodex, proved useless
-ANTIALLERGIC EYEWASH KETOFTIL, which to me seems to do nothing
-BASSADO, An ORAL ANTIBIOTIC, which produced strong side effects; anyway, I used it for 20 days, did nothing.
-CORTISONE EYEWASH, which, in my case, are the only really functioning therapy.

With CORTISONE the overproduction of the Meibomian glands stops, the tearing is normal, and I do not alternate continuous dry / massive tear phases, with the continuous production of these filaments.
It's clear that the cortisone eyewash is a temporary cure, and can not be used as a definitive therapy.
I began to also use a SHAMPOO for the periocular hygiene and I noticed that, during washing, some kind of SEBUM CONGLOMERATES come off from under the upper eyelids.

The symptoms were not improving, so I went to a FOURTH OPHTHALMOLOGIST, considered an expert of the eyelid.
He confirmed to me a dysfunction of the Meibomian glands, not serious (I assure you that my life has deteriorated so much in the last year), with a posterior blepharitis. He told me to stop the use of eye washes, except for the anti-allergic.
He prescribed me:
-WARM COMPRESSES every evening for ten minutes
-EYE LASH CLEANING WITH A OPHTHALMIC GAUZE
-ARTIFICIAL EYEDROPS 4-5 TIMES A DAY
-OMEGA 3-6

With this new therapy eyes give me less hassle during the day (I have no sensation of a foreign body) but continue to produce these filaments, during washing, in large quantities. Today, when I was back home, I went in front of the mirror, I massaged my eyes and two yellow conglomerates fell down.
After doing the washings, eyes feel very tired and begin to shed tears at random, alternating dry phases.

It's something terrible, really. I started to get annoyed even in front of the light in the morning (sometimes, not always, and I do not understand the cause of that) and I see no solution to this problem.

Overall, I tried 10-15 eye drops, antibiotics and anti-allergic, in one year, with no results. The eyelids (just close to the lashes) are red, when I feel an itchy sensation inside my eyes suddenly the counter become red (wtf?).
I started to do a lot of research on the Internet, in Italian we have very little information, and I found this forum.




I'd really like if some of you guys could give me some tips, also regarding LIPIFLOW. CAN IT BE A SOLUTION?

This doctor told me about this chance, but, looking on the Internet, I found very conflicting opinions. It would be great if someone tried it and could gave me advice, perhaps in a similar condition: I have read there are different kind of MGD, in my case there is an OVERPRODUCTION OF OIL, apparently no-sense and poor quality.


I really hope someone could help me.
Thanks for reading

[savino]

...............

[dryness1993]

Hi.

That sounds like a horror story, I'm so sorry to hear that. Maybe your glands are damaged or obstructed somehow.

How are you feeling now? If you've been to your doctor already, what did he say? I'd really like to know since I'm thinking of getting lipiflow done myself.

All the best, I hope you get better.

[Deydey89]

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

[Jahcpa]

I had not heard that. The University of Michigan has told me they stopped offering Lipiflow as they do not find it that effective. Unfortunately I am not finding that IPL is helping me much after 4 treatments.

[craig9563]

Hi folks,
I got diagnosed with dry eye after two failed tear duct surgeries (DCR). My tears ducts are still blocked but no one seems to know why the attempted surgery suddenly caused severe dry eye (I just had intermittent watering due to blocked ducts before the ill-fated surgery). Anyway, I was about to have a course of IPL but the optometrist now says evidence from the USA suggests it is best to have lipiflow first, and then some IPL. Does anyone know about this idea? Thanks.

[skeeterlondon]

Hello All

I have had sever MGD for about over a year now and tried all the usual stuff and meds with about 7 different doctors. I had lipiflow about 6 weeks ago, for 2 weeks after it was great. Glands open producing oil. then after that it went back to normal, blocked glands and toothpaste like secretion. Then after those two weeks it got REALLY BAD, worse than before the lipiflow even. My eyes were so dry (like a hairdryer being blown in them 24/7) and no amount of drops could relieve them - even for a few seconds. I now have constant eye fatigue and foreign body sensation from the time i got up to the time i go to bed, seems like my glands have stopped producing any oil at all - when i do the microwave bag it doesnt feel oily afterwards slike it used to, it still feels dry as a bone!. I am really confused how this has happened? I thought that the lipiflow may not work - but didn't expect to be worse off after. I have an appointment to see the dr who did it in a couple of weeks (he was too booked up to get a follow up quickly).

Has anyone else experienced anything like this before?

[Daniel2]

I tried Lipiflow twice. Absolutely no effects so far. I heard some people say that it helped them so I guess it depends in each person.

[Bibliogirl]

Just wanted to give another update for those considering Lipiflow. I'm about 5 months out. My eyes are definitely better than where they were when this all started last summer. Would I recommend Lipiflow? Yes, I would. Has it been a miracle for me? No, but I think that has more to do with having both MGD issues and ocular rosacea. But...I'm definitely functioning. I look at computer screens all day and work on one again with my photography business at night. I use drops every 2-4 hours and still using Restasis twice a day as well.

Next stop? Dr. Yee in Houston. If I decide to go ahead with IPL, I will update on the treatment, etc.

[Betsy]

Thank you Daniel2. I am sorry you are feeling worse too. I was told after 2 weeks the right eye should get back to normal if not better. But so far that hasn't happened. The LF seems so not invasive and with my eyes constantly changing i don't know what's what anymore. But it's weird because my right was always the worst, then over the years both eyes became manageable, then December 10, 2015 they both got so bad, but the left was even worse. Now it's the right more so, though they fluctuate. At least i know no benefit yet to the LF, not to say it won't work for some others, just not me yet. You may get benefit, who knows? I hope you do!

I have not tried goggles because my glasses rx is so high that i worry they will be too heavy, my current glasses are half frames and small, from the kids dept as my face is narrow. Also, I suffer from dizziness so I have a hard time getting use to new glasses. I fear paying so much, getting these heavy ones and I can't even get use to them. Ugh, messy. But also, I did this goggle test and the humid environment didn't seem to help my eyes much, nor the humidifier I have. I don't know what to make of all that.

I splash my face with water too. It's funny (more sad really) because before I got worse overnight, I was wearing eye makeup. Now with splashing water on my face throughout the day, that is no longer an option at all.

[Daniel2]

Betsy I just got the Lipiflow yesterday. Exactly in my right eye too, which is the eye that I feel absolutely horrible in. I too feel worse right now. It's probably the inflamation, perhaps the glands are still a little swollen and that might affect the pathways of the glands? I don't know for sure.

Had you tried getting moisture glasses? I think those helped me, I have the Dustbusters 2, the ones thing that work a little bit too is washing my face with cold water. I have a bottle cold water always and if the pain gets too unberable, I just put the water in my face, feels refreshing to me and helps me deal with the pain.