Any tips for cold compresses techniques

[khmedia]

I am interested in hearing any cold compress techniques for reducing inflammation/red veins etc.

I used a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a muslin cloth last night and whilst it worked well I was thinking there are bound to be lots of options for cold compress.

[Rebecca Petris]

I like a ziplock baggie with water and crushed ice.

[tealeaf]

I like a ziplock baggie with water and crushed ice.

Rebecca,
Can I check if doing cold compress will clog up the meibomian glands? I am currently doing warm compress once every morning, at times I feel like pampering my eyes with cold compress during the day.

[PotatoCakes]

I like cold, green tea bags. One of my drs recommended it because the caffeine supposedly helps with inflammation. It seems to work great when I "cry" to lessen the redness, etc since I don't actually have tears.

[Rebecca Petris]

One of my drs recommended it because the caffeine supposedly helps with inflammation.

Thanks for mentioning. I've been scratching my head over occasional callers saying their doctors insisted on caffeinated tea bags... didn't know the rationale. Still puzzling to me though

Rebecca,
Can I check if doing cold compress will clog up the meibomian glands? I am currently doing warm compress once every morning, at times I feel like pampering my eyes with cold compress during the day.

Tealeaf, I can't speak from a medical perspective on this at all, just what I think at a practical level. I know at first blush it seems counterintuitive to do cold compresses when you also do warm compresses - yet, when I think about it, it doesn't make any sense to me at all that cold compresses could "clog" glands. Think about how the meibum gets stuck there in the first place (not by freezing!). Then, once the blocked glands have been evacuated with heat & pressure during your regular compress/massage, there's nothing left there to thicken up even *if* a cold compress could theoretically do it without it naturally reversing itself immediately afterwards as the lids return to normal body temperature. Might be simplistic but I haven't heard/read anything compelling to the contrary yet. On the other hand I think cold compresses are a perfectly intuitive way to counteract the increased inflammation too much heat can produce... not to mention being good for pain.

[khmedia]

Thanks for the various tips guys.

This morning I placed a wet face towel in the fridge for a while and then placed it on my eyes. It was amazing how long the coldness lasted within the cloth. Perhaps a lot longer than the heat would last in a hot compress!

[PotatoCakes]

Re: caffeine, you can also find it in cellulite creams because it diminishes the appearance of cellulite (very) temporarily. Crazy, huh?

[LaDiva]

I've been considering hot and cold. I have only been using hot, but started thinking about how I use hot and cold alternately when I have a sore neck, arm, back, whatever. It really works, so why not on our eyes? I am going to try alternating and see if there is further improvement.

[cathy8889]

I was a bit confused about this as the last ophthalmologist said I don't have mgd yet I should do warm compresses. I was doing them for two months and my eyes were just redder afterwards so I switched to using thera pearls eye mask and my eyes feel wonderfully afterwards, you can use it warm or cold too http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B002...&robot_redir=1

[tealeaf]

I have tried cold compress, wow, it felt so good after that!

Cathy,
Thanks for sharing on the pearls eye mask, it looks so relaxing. Am going to get one