Dry or Moist Heat & Eye Pressure

[Yorkshireguy25]

Hello,

I have MGD and it is mainly my lower glands that are blocked, I think, although I do get some flakes as well on the upper lids. I use warm compression for about 4-5 mins morn and night, followed by 20-30 swipes with a cotton pad dipped in diluted baby shampoo across the lids, followed by a cotton bud dipped in baby shampoo across the lower lid, then rinse with cold water. For my MGD this is effective.

My concern regards the warm compression type as a flannel requires about 3 goes, so not constant and I apply more pressure when holding it to my eyes vs just laying a microwaveable bag over them. But is the moist heat more effective? Another concern is the pressure I put on my eye when swiping with the cotton pad. I understand applying too much pressure past what is needed to clean can be harmful to the eye?

[eyes78]

My Dr. told me to gently massage with the compress while it was on. I know this doesn't really answer your question, I just wanted to pass along what my Dr. said.

I don't know if the moisture is important. It seems to me that the heat is what is important. I like to do both - a dry microwaveable compress in the morning, and a wet washcloth at night, as this also serves to dissolve my eye makeup. I realize you are a guy and this probably is a non-issue for you.

As for the fact that you have to re-heat the wash cloth, therefore the treatment is not a continuous 5 min, I imagine the few seconds it takes to do that would not be significant.

I am very careful with the "scrubbing" aspect of lid hygiene. I believe that part of my problem is inflammation caused by irritation and I definitely don't want to make that worse. I don't seem to have any flake issues, though, for me it's just posterior bleph.

I wish I could be more help.

[MGD30]

I just posted this in another thread so I apologize for repeating myself. My doctor's office told me that wet compress is much better.I would assume that the reason for this being is that the wet compress dissipates more heat a higher rate than dry. I was also told not to apply any direct pressure to the eye ball while doing this.

I usually do 10 mins, but I have to use either multiple towels or 2 rice baggies with a wet cloth over since they are wet they lose heat much quicker.