My expreience wiht Dr. Steven Safranmodex Tea Tree Oil SCrub

[NeedMyEyes]

Sorry I can't correct the spelling: the title is supposed to say "My experience with Dr. Steven Safran - Demodex Tea Tree Oil Scrub". Haha! My eyes were dilated when I typed that and I couldn't see anything. Sorry!

So, I just finished my visit with Dr. Steven Safran and my eyes are still dilated to I can't drrive. So I thought I would give everyone an idea of how it went:

Dr. Safran's office is in Lawrenceville, NJ just oustide of Trenton, NJ. It is the usual non-descript suburban ophthalmologist's office. My visit lasted approximately 2 hours (they said the dry eye visits usually take longer because he is thorough)..

Dr. Safran was a pretty nice guy. He came in and out of my room maybe 4 or 5 times for questions, tests, treatments, etc.

He looked at my eyes and told me a few things I haven't heard yet - I have lip wiper epitheliopathy. I also have lids that are a little "floppy". Also, he think I might be digging my head into the pillow because of the way my lower lids look. He is also the first doctor I have heard say that "you might have a few signs of rosacea on your face". Also, my schirmer's came out sort of low, so maybe there is a component of aqueous deficiency.

Then the blepharitis - he saw meibomian gland capping (which is back only 3 weeks after the meibomian gland probing - so it must not have worked very well...) Also he says he is not a big fan of the gland probing.

He saw lots of inflammation in my eyelid margins. He saw dermatitis in between my lashes indicating some type pf allergy. He didn't suspect that he would find demodex in my lashes. he said however that he thought I would have the other kind of demodex (demodex brevis) deeper in my eyelids and that I could be having an allergic reaction to them. I am allegic to several types of mites, so this made sense to me actually.

Then he pulled a few lashes and looked under the microscope so I could see. He didn't see any mites and neither did I. So he said if I wanted, he would try a tea tree oil scrub just to see if it works. If it works, then it was demodex causing my blepharitis. If not, it wasn't. However, he said there was 70% chance I would get some improvement from the treatment. So, what the heck? 70% chance? and my insurance covered almost all of it.

So, he treated me 3 times. It was a very simple treamtent. He rubs the oid with a cotton tipped applicator on the eyebrow, then the upper eyelash, then the lower. It is pretty quick.

He gave me a prescription for some Ivermectin (5 pills to take in a month) and that was it. I go back for 3 more weekly treatments and take those 5 pills and that's it. Oh, he wants me to use tea trea shampoo from the grocery store for the next few weeks.

He says I should feel the benefit in a few days from the treatment. And if I don't feel the benefit by then, then it probably isn't demodex that's the problem.

So, if you ask me, this is a doctor's visit you should definitely make if you live in the northeast. He is pretty thorough. He thinks of things other doctor's don't think of. Yes, it really is just for demodex in the end, but the treatment is pretty cheap (if you have insurance) and pretty darn easy. If he diagnoses you with Demodex, then the treatment works 100% of the time. If he doesn't, then you can get the treatment or not, but what's it going to hurt?

Any questions, please PM me.

NME

[bp77]

thanks for all the info that u give us. did the solution on the eyelid caused any burning to ur eyes or ur eyelids? did it make ur lids to become red? I had the eyelsh test done and the doc found 2 mites in one eye, do u think i need this treatment?

[Rebecca Petris]

He looked at my eyes and told me a few things I haven't heard yet - I have lip wiper epitheliopathy. I also have lids that are a little "floppy". Also, he think I might be digging my head into the pillow because of the way my lower lids look.

I talk to a lot of people with floppy eyelid syndrome (usually when they're struggling to find practical protective eyewear to prevent rubbing). Very important thing to pinpoint if you have a little of this. Sounds like the doc is more observant than average.

If he diagnoses you with Demodex, then the treatment works 100% of the time.

I've known a lot of people over the years who were diagnosed with Demodex but not so many who were "fixed". What's this 100% success rate claim based on? And is there evidence that symptoms improve when the mites are dealt with? how about recurrence?

[NeedMyEyes]

He numbed my eyes first and then did the treatments. I would say it felt sort of "refreshing" on my eyebrows and lid margins. However, when my eyes finally became unanesthetized, I could feel some burning which I assume was from the tea tree oil. At that point, I put in some saline to get rid of the burn.

In his article, he says only the people with 10-20 mites per lash were the ones he would treat... and those were the ones that would get better. He says 100% for those people. And if they get a recurrence, he treats them again and they eventually get better.

And yes there are a few papers out there with Dr. Tseng as an author and Dr. Safran as authors that should dramatic improvement in symptoms after mites are dealt with.

As far as him being observant - yes I guess so. He knows a good bit about dry eye I can tell. He is pretty opinionated and I am very guarded about what things I believe / don't believe, so I wasn't sure about everything he said. But it certainly was a different, but educated, perspective.

[dryeyehealth]

Has anyone actually gotten a benefit from following the protocol for treating demodex mites? The TTO shampoo, the Cliradex wipes, Soolantra, etc? It seems like an awful amount of work and lots of irritation and I don't really see any testimonials from people who have seen a real improvement. I know it is logical to think that the mites could cause irritation and could block meibomian glands but I haven't seen any real proof that it is working for anyone.

[grant555]

i agree. its a good idea but in practice it just doesnt seem like demodex is causing as many problems as some doctors claim.