Currently undergoing IPL treatment for redness (and dry eye)

[abercrombie003]

thank you for believing me. keep everyone posted soon when i see some changes

[abercrombie003]

Thank you autumn for backing me up. LOL... Yes I did speak with Autumn this afternoon and she was wonderful to speak with. She is correct, my main concernt is simply the redness or what I like to call bloodshot. As I have said before, from the day I wake up to the time I go to bed my eyes are constantly red, as if I have been on some illegal drugs. In fact, Dr. Toyo's did share with me that one of his patients came to him who worked for FedEx had that exact same problem with the redness, hence, he never was able to get promoted to a higher position given that his eyes were red constantly due to MGD dry eye syndrom. People assumed he wasn;t capable since they believed he was partying all night and wasn't serious with his job, therefore red eyes.

All I can say is that it has been about a week and a half since my first treatment. I have been using lotemax and xibrom to help with inflammation. I can say that I did notice some changes as far as the dryness in my eyes. They do not feel as dry as before. The redness also has reduced. I am looking forward in having complete my treatments with Dr. Toyos. I believe he has something up on his sleeves and I really believe he can help anyone with dry eyes/MGD. He is an incredible doctor who takes his time during the process. He is patient and very supportive in every step of the treatment. It's money spent well in my opinion.

My next appointment is in July. July 9th to be exact, but I might try to get in early since autumn did share that one of the staff did receive IPL treatments and had wonderful results. I will keep everyone updated and thank you for the responses. Feel free to message me and I'll try my best to answer any questions. Once again, unlike Autumn and a few others, I do not experience pain in any of my eyes. My eyes are simply dry causing my eyes to be very red and bloodshot. Dr. Toyos described them as toothpaste like which is true since that's how they look when I try to excrete them myself. Until than. goodluck with everyone's treatment and I really believe IPL is very beneficial!

Hi All- I spoke with Ambercrombie and he is indeed who he says he is. Also, he is excited about Dr. Toyos. Ambercrombie did see results after his first treatment- esp with red eyes and dryness. I think he is different from Sazy, myself and a few others seeing Dr. Toyos in that he doesnt have unrelenting pain...in fact, pain is not his main issue- reddness is. We are all so different and it will be interesting to see how this treatment does in the long term with complaints of reddness as that is not something I experience. I am still reserving any conclusions about this treatment until later but I am a big fan of IPL and Dr. Toyos so far.....

[Rebecca Petris]

Abercrombie, based on your information to date I am taking the liberty of modifying the title of this thread. It's clearly a work in progress and you've said that redness rather than dryness is your main concern. Therefore, a title in keeping with that will probably be helpful in setting people's expectations for what they're going to read here.

[Gretchen]

Hi Abercrombie -

Good to hear from you and glad that you are doing well. Had you ever used Xibrom and Lotemax before the IPL treatment? These would reduce redness and help with dryness - you just can't use them long-term so they are not really "treatment" for dry eyes. Or did you start after your treatment with Dr Toyos?

Thanks,
Gretchen

[abercrombie003]

Hi Abercrombie -

Good to hear from you and glad that you are doing well. Had you ever used Xibrom and Lotemax before the IPL treatment? These would reduce redness and help with dryness - you just can't use them long-term so they are not really "treatment" for dry eyes. Or did you start after your treatment with Dr Toyos?

Thanks,
Gretchen

hi gretchen,

dr. toyos did prescribe me a bottle 1ml of lotemax once a day in the morning and 5ml of xibrom that cost me a fortune. LOL. i actually stopped putting the drops as of today. my eyes seem to be much better. not as irrritated as before.

[TARYN]

ipl

Hi Abercrombie,

That is good news that your eye are doing better. Do your eyes both look and feel better?

[Gretchen]

Great news. I love to hear about folks getting better. Keep us posted.

Gretchen

[abercrombie003]

Hi Abercrombie,

That is good news that your eye are doing better. Do your eyes both look and feel better?

Hi Taryn,

Yes, my eyes look better. I dont feel as if they are overly dry. I feel a lot better now and I am thrilled how I do not have to worry about warm compress, eye lid scrubs anymore. I really cant wait until my second treatment in july.

[advocate]

Since some people are reporting success with IPL, I decided to try forcing myself to get 15 minutes of natural sunlight each day, either by tanning or just walking around outside without any kind of UV protection on my eyes.

I have found that exposure to natural sunlight DOES improve my condition quite dramatically. And so, it wouldn't surprise me that intense light exposure might also help. Then again, the sun is free....

I do want everyone to note that I've posted a detailed list of treatment options that have worked for me (and what has not) in the Bleph/MGD forum. I hope that everyone will consider reading it, trying some of my suggestions, and reporting back and what works and what doesn't. Thanks!

There are several people on this board who are doing this procedure but their results and feedback has been more circumspect than yours.

I find it interesting that this is your first and only post to this board and you did it under three separate forum topics. To be honest, I really don't find it interesting, I find it suspicious.

How is it that you are claiming to be healed after one treatment? I certainly hope that you are indeed a real patient. Otherwise, there are many folks here that would be disappointed. Very disappointed.

Gretchen

[Tay1982]

Great Success Story

Hi Abercrombie,

Thank you for sharing your success story, I found it to be very encouraging. It's great to hear of other procedures that are actually working, as IPL was never mentioned to me as an option.

I'm not sure if we share similar conditions, but one thing we do have in common is bloodshot eyes which like you is also my main concern. I found that there are a few IPL specialists in my area, so once I learn more about the procedure and whether or not I am a good candidate, I will definitely consider it.

The price is somewhat steep, but when you start avoiding almost every social encounter because of the appearance of your eyes, this option may be worth its weight in gold.

Thanks again for sharing, and I wish you the best.

[Gretchen]

Tay -

IPL is used for treatment of MGD. If you redness is caused by this, it may help.

This is not just any IPL. You need to go to Dr. Toyos in Memphis or someone trained by him. The kind of IPL's done by derms or salons is not going to help you as they will not go high enough about the lower periorbital bones and given that they don't know what they are doing, you would not want them to.

Gretchen

[Lucy]

Is Dr. Toyos doing IPL exclusively in Memphis now? How about his California practice?

[Gretchen]

Hi Lucy -

Dr Toyos was splitting his time between Memphis and LA. However, he is no longer going to be in LA. I think that he was considering moving to LA, but he has a 5 yo daughter in Memphis and so you know....

Anyway, Dr Kerry Assil (disclaimer here - he is a huge Lasik guy but so is Toyos) will be doing the procedures in LA from here on out. I have chosen to go to Memphis however to continue my course with Dr Toyos. Call me crazy but I would rather have someone zap my eyelids who has been doing it for 8 years as opposed to someone who has picked it up in the last 2 weeks. Although I am sure that Dr Assil is more than competent, that has just been my choice.

HTH.
Gretchen

[msienkiewicz]

Gretchen,

Have you begun IPL treatment?

Memphis is much closer to me.....

Best wishes,
Melissa

[Gretchen]

Yes. I am two treatments in but will not be posting on this board about it until one month following my fourth treatment. Look for it sometime in October.

Thanks,
Gretchen