Rice Baggy vs Gel Packs?

[laine]

Hi all,
I have been using a warm/hot gel pack on my eyes for years. I do get blurry vision after doing so but have not found any great improvement in my eyes. The glands are still blocked in my eyelids and painful.
Does the rice baggy do a more effective job of unclogging things?. Also, I don't have a microwave so could it be warmed in the oven, or is this too risky?.
I'm so sick and tired of not being able to unclog the glands. My eye doctor tried to do it one time and nothing came out!.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated,
Elaine

[Flick]

I still haven't tried rice baggies, but I have finally found a gel mask that I like. It's by Earth Therapeutics and is called the Fire and Ice Eyelid Compress. http://www.earththerapeutics.net/pro...sp?number=9408

From their website it costs $5.99. They are also for sale sometimes at Bed Bath and Beyond.

I like this one because it's easy and quick - just pop it in the microwave for 15 seconds and you're ready. It also is smaller so it just hits the eyes mainly, not half your face. It usually stays warm for a good 10 minutes, although one drawback I've found is that one side is usually quite a bit warmer than the other, so I find myself flipping it over every minute or so. Also, if you end up using this one, make sure that the gel is evenly distributed in the mask before you zap it, or else the plastic in the mask may begin to melt. My mask has lasted surprisingly long - it's going on two months know.

I think one benefit of rice baggies is that they weigh a bit more so the heat is pushed in closer to your eye, whereas sometimes with the gel mask I feel like I need to hold it closer to my eyelids rather than just letting it rest on them. But I don't like using the string to hold it close - it felt too tight.

[Rebecca Petris]

I'm a rice bag addict. However Cindy had an intriguing comment in this thread over on D'Eyealogues - very interesting, I don't think I remember this being discussed before - about experimenting with the quantity of rice because of how the weight may temporarily affect vision. I'm planning to play around with mine a little and see how I fare. I tend to "pile" all the rice on the eye to get the most heat delivery but this may be why I get so much blur afterwards.