Tweet
Hello. I am someone who has been undergoing a combination of IPL in hopes of improving my Meibomian gland dysfunction. I would like to share my experiences, as IPL can be expensive.
- I am a 26 year old male with white skin. I am saying this as it sound like IPL has some risks for darker skin types.
- I have 28% gland loss in my left eye and 58% in the right eye. The right eye is the problem - the left eye is not so noticeable.
- My diagnosis came from the only specialist in Oslo, the Dry Eye Clinic. However, they admitted they could not guess the original cause. We discussed incomplete blink reflex or nocturnal lagopthalmos, but they could not say for sure.
I originally started with only warm compresses, combined with eyelid massage and eye drops. However, it was not enough. So I found an optician that offered IPL. The price is 1500 NOK each time - about 152 us dollars. I don't know if they have problems with taking foreign clients, but I could call them and ask if anyone is interested.
As of today I have done 3 IPL - This is with E-eye, using the Toyos protocol where you wear googles and they only engage the light around your eyes, not directly on your eyelids. The entire process of each IPL worked like this:
1: Use an electronic device called Blephex on your eyelashes. It is like a massager that removes blepharitis from your eyelashes. This was the most uncomfortable part of the procedure. It felt like my eyelashes was being tickled. Not painful, but uncomfortable.
2: Apply a gel around your eyes, wear the googles, and actually perform the IPL. Each hit of the IPL was slightly painful, but only for a split second. Like jerking back in surprise from the warmth on your skin.
3: Wear a heated therapearl eye mask for 10 minutes. They warmed it in the microwave.
4: Meibomian gland expression. Given numbing eye drops, then followed by the glands manually being expressed. Not painful and less uncomfortable than the blephex.
It is now about 10 days after my third IPL, and my eyes have gotten better. My right eye was such an issue that I stopped reading books completely, but now I am slowly starting to enjoy literature again.
I would say I am no longer depressed from the dysfunction alone and despairing, so I will heavily recommend it. Now, I do want to make it clear my right eye is not perfect, and it does feel different and not "normal". But the IPLs have made it so that the warm compress and massages are way more functional, and I feel better for a while after.
My routine goes like this, recommended by the Dry Eye Clinic:
- Wash eyelids. I use blephasol. It's a solution you drop on cotton wipes (included) and drag it across.
- Wear mask for 10 minutes. This has actually given me small bumps on the eyelid, which I believe are styes, so I am going to start using cotton pads warmed with hot water on my eyelids to protect from direct contact with the mask. Hopefully it will work. EDIT: Using cotton pads and warming them with warm water before putting them on my eyelids works - the mask does not seem to give me styes anymore, and the expression afterwards still works.
- Eyelid massage using fingers. I use my fingers, based on this video: BEST EYELID MASSAGE GUIDE: How To Do Meibomian Gland Expression For Dry Eyes, MGD, And Styes - YouTube
After this, combined with the 3 IPLs I have, I feel better.
I will try it a fourth time and report back.
UPDATE: I will be doing my 5th or 6th IPL in august or September. I will update a week after doing it, to let it take some effect. Sorry for late with updating.
Because IPLs are expensive, I do recommend trying to follow the mask and massage routine first. That way you won't pay right away for IPL when it could work alone. But for me the IPL explicitly made it more functional in expressing glands.
You know you are doing the massage correctly when you see this white "slime" appear in your tear duct.
The Dry Eye Clinic also recommended me dry as drops as necessary - Artelac preservative free one-use containers, but I think the expressioning of the gland is significantly more useful.
UPDATE 2 OCTOBER: As said above, my right eye is the problem, and it gets a physical feeling that is probably from the Meibomian Gland Dysfunction.
HOWEVER, now that I have done IPLs, warm compress and meibomian gland massage works pretty well. I clean my eyelids with either anti-blepharitis foam in the shower or do blephasol wipes on my eyelashes, then the heated mask for 10 mintues, then massages. After this my eyes feel good for many hours and
I recommend trying to do at least 1 ipl, then start doing the heated mask routine and massaging eyelids. Note that the massaging has to be done correctly, more of a squeeze and hold with your upper and lower eyelid to do it correctly. Then gradually do more IPL until it works.
My right eye still makes me sad sometimes, but it is a lot better. So I just wake up 15 minutes earlier a day to do the routine
- I am a 26 year old male with white skin. I am saying this as it sound like IPL has some risks for darker skin types.
- I have 28% gland loss in my left eye and 58% in the right eye. The right eye is the problem - the left eye is not so noticeable.
- My diagnosis came from the only specialist in Oslo, the Dry Eye Clinic. However, they admitted they could not guess the original cause. We discussed incomplete blink reflex or nocturnal lagopthalmos, but they could not say for sure.
I originally started with only warm compresses, combined with eyelid massage and eye drops. However, it was not enough. So I found an optician that offered IPL. The price is 1500 NOK each time - about 152 us dollars. I don't know if they have problems with taking foreign clients, but I could call them and ask if anyone is interested.
As of today I have done 3 IPL - This is with E-eye, using the Toyos protocol where you wear googles and they only engage the light around your eyes, not directly on your eyelids. The entire process of each IPL worked like this:
1: Use an electronic device called Blephex on your eyelashes. It is like a massager that removes blepharitis from your eyelashes. This was the most uncomfortable part of the procedure. It felt like my eyelashes was being tickled. Not painful, but uncomfortable.
2: Apply a gel around your eyes, wear the googles, and actually perform the IPL. Each hit of the IPL was slightly painful, but only for a split second. Like jerking back in surprise from the warmth on your skin.
3: Wear a heated therapearl eye mask for 10 minutes. They warmed it in the microwave.
4: Meibomian gland expression. Given numbing eye drops, then followed by the glands manually being expressed. Not painful and less uncomfortable than the blephex.
It is now about 10 days after my third IPL, and my eyes have gotten better. My right eye was such an issue that I stopped reading books completely, but now I am slowly starting to enjoy literature again.
I would say I am no longer depressed from the dysfunction alone and despairing, so I will heavily recommend it. Now, I do want to make it clear my right eye is not perfect, and it does feel different and not "normal". But the IPLs have made it so that the warm compress and massages are way more functional, and I feel better for a while after.
My routine goes like this, recommended by the Dry Eye Clinic:
- Wash eyelids. I use blephasol. It's a solution you drop on cotton wipes (included) and drag it across.
- Wear mask for 10 minutes. This has actually given me small bumps on the eyelid, which I believe are styes, so I am going to start using cotton pads warmed with hot water on my eyelids to protect from direct contact with the mask. Hopefully it will work. EDIT: Using cotton pads and warming them with warm water before putting them on my eyelids works - the mask does not seem to give me styes anymore, and the expression afterwards still works.
- Eyelid massage using fingers. I use my fingers, based on this video: BEST EYELID MASSAGE GUIDE: How To Do Meibomian Gland Expression For Dry Eyes, MGD, And Styes - YouTube
After this, combined with the 3 IPLs I have, I feel better.
I will try it a fourth time and report back.
UPDATE: I will be doing my 5th or 6th IPL in august or September. I will update a week after doing it, to let it take some effect. Sorry for late with updating.
Because IPLs are expensive, I do recommend trying to follow the mask and massage routine first. That way you won't pay right away for IPL when it could work alone. But for me the IPL explicitly made it more functional in expressing glands.
You know you are doing the massage correctly when you see this white "slime" appear in your tear duct.
The Dry Eye Clinic also recommended me dry as drops as necessary - Artelac preservative free one-use containers, but I think the expressioning of the gland is significantly more useful.
UPDATE 2 OCTOBER: As said above, my right eye is the problem, and it gets a physical feeling that is probably from the Meibomian Gland Dysfunction.
HOWEVER, now that I have done IPLs, warm compress and meibomian gland massage works pretty well. I clean my eyelids with either anti-blepharitis foam in the shower or do blephasol wipes on my eyelashes, then the heated mask for 10 mintues, then massages. After this my eyes feel good for many hours and
I recommend trying to do at least 1 ipl, then start doing the heated mask routine and massaging eyelids. Note that the massaging has to be done correctly, more of a squeeze and hold with your upper and lower eyelid to do it correctly. Then gradually do more IPL until it works.
My right eye still makes me sad sometimes, but it is a lot better. So I just wake up 15 minutes earlier a day to do the routine
Comment