Understanding of IPL

[Gabbo83]

Hopefully I got the right section here on this forum, as I’m only new so bare with me.

You can read my post on introducing my-self here.
http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showthread.php?t=11422



I recently read about how IPL can cure this nasty disease we call dry eye, and I did a search for IPL here in Sydney Australia to find that there are heaps of places that do this, but I read a lot about this and IPL seems to be more for hair removable then anything else.

I decided to ring up a local IPL place here in my home town and asked them if they know that IPL can treat DRY EYE they mentioned that it’s only for hair removable and aren’t sure what I’m talking about.

SO I’M CURIOUS TO KNOW IF ANY OF YOU CAN EPLAIN IN A LITTLE MORE DETAIL ON WHAT THIS TOPIC IS, and how this can affect dry eye?

Peace.

[Guest]

In a nutshell, IPL is supposed to eliminate the small blood vessels beneath the skin that are bringing inflammatory mediators to the meibomian glands and causing them to become inflamed and therefore produce thick oils.

The theory goes that if you eliminate these vessels bringing inflammatory mediators to the MG's, the MG's will start to function more normally again and start to produce proper oils (rather than than thick goop that they produce when diseased).

[Gabbo83]

IPl

In a nutshell, IPL is supposed to eliminate the small blood vessels beneath the skin that are bringing inflammatory mediators to the meibomian glands and causing them to become inflamed and therefore produce thick oils.

The theory goes that if you eliminate these vessels bringing inflammatory mediators to the MG's, the MG's will start to function more normally again and start to produce proper oils (rather than than thick goop that they produce when diseased).

I rung up some of the IPL places here and around Sydney in Australia. And none of them know any thing about how it treats dry eye.

How can I explain this to Australian doctors?

I might make a post of this somewhere else to see if any one in Australia has had success with it.

[spmcc]

RE: IPL and multiple uses

From what I understand, IPL/PDL/lasers can have multiple applications such as hair removal, tattoo removal, acne, port wine stain removal, veins, freckles and age spots, etc.

It all depends on the machine and what wavelengths it can be set to. For instance, see here http://www.sciton.com/products/bbl.html

It specifies the wavelength for each application.

I know that one of the lasers that I get for rosacea is also used for hair removal.

[spmcc]

Re: IPL for dry eye

You can look here (Dr. Toyos' website) for info on IPL for dry eye: http://www.toyosclinic.com/vision/procedure/dryeye.htm

Dr. Toyos is the main person who is championing this... and Dr. Friedman, who I saw in Palo Alto for IPL for dry eye, told me that Dr. Toyos has performed 600 of these procedures.

Also, there are a number of YouTube videos showing Dr. Toyos performing IPL for dry eye.