Anyone heard of Dr. Jeffrey Gillbard in Boston?

[CatB]

I heard he is a "dry eye specialist" and have an appt with him on Monday.

Anyone hear of him before? Don't see much on the internet.

[CatB]

Oops...spelled Gilbard!

Just saw that he invented Theratears. Is that a plus or a minus? Here is what I found on him:

http://www.ophmanagement.com/article.aspx?article=86063

Any thoughts?

[Lucy]

Dr. Gilbard is well knows for his TheraTears. I've heard of people going to him, but not much recently. I don't think he has anything more to offer than you can find on this board or visiting another dry eye doc such as Dr. Latkany. I have seen neither of them.

I am basically saying this so you could think about travel expense in figuring out if you want to see either doc. Others may have other stuff to adde.
Lucy
P.S. Cat, not I see you live in Boston, so seeing Dr. G might make perfect sense.

[CatB]

Dr. Gilbard is well knows for his TheraTears. I've heard of people going to him, but not much recently. I don't think he has anything more to offer than you can find on this board or visiting another dry eye doc such as Dr. Latkany. I have seen neither of them.

I am basically saying this so you could think about travel expense in figuring out if you want to see either doc. Others may have other stuff to adde.
Lucy
P.S. Cat, not I see you live in Boston, so seeing Dr. G might make perfect sense.

He is actually less than an hour away and I got an appt for Monday, when I also happened to be free, so I thought it must be worth going.

[Lucy]

Absolutely! You're fortunate to be in the same city! Also a Monday appointment is hard to beat. Good luck. Let us know how you do.
Lucy

[CatB]

Absolutely! You're fortunate to be in the same city! Also a Monday appointment is hard to beat. Good luck. Let us know how you do.
Lucy

Thanks! I will definitely let you know what happens. I know that someone else was looking for a good doc in Boston, so I will make sure to post.

[Rojzen]

I was a patient of Dr. Gilbard

CatB: I wish you a successful appointment with Dr. Gilbard. I will add, however, that I was a patient of his in 1998, and found that he was, even then, very wedded to the idea behind his now very widely distributed product line. Dr. Gilbard was fairly thorough with me, in terms of diagnostics, but he sent me off with "TheraTears" written on a prescription pad, and also put me on a course of doxycycline. Neither strategy ultimately did anything for my condition, and I moved on to other therapies.

I do not blame a researcher for believing strongly in his approach, but a patient should be aware, from the outset, that such researcher is not likely to be very open to many therapies other than the one he has developed and marketed.

To see the major difference between TheraTears and high oncotic pressure drops, please review Dr. Holly's writings, here, on why hypertonic and hypotonic drops cannot achieve what high oncotic drops do, in terms of altering tear film physics. Dwelle, Dakrina, and FreshKote, fyi, are the only high oncotic drops currently available.

Enjoy your visit, and I will be hoping that much of benefit comes to you from it. If it does not, however, please know that there are approaches other than TheraTears that could prove highly helpful to your case. You will find huge amounts of information here at DEZ on a great number of these other approaches.

[CatB]

CatB: I wish you a successful appointment with Dr. Gilbard. I will add, however, that I was a patient of his in 1998, and found that he was, even then, very wedded to the idea behind his now very widely distributed product line. Dr. Gilbard was fairly thorough with me, in terms of diagnostics, but he sent me off with "TheraTears" written on a prescription pad, and also put me on a course of doxycycline. Neither strategy ultimately did anything for my condition, and I moved on to other therapies.

I do not blame a researcher for believing strongly in his approach, but a patient should be aware, from the outset, that such researcher is not likely to be very open to many therapies other than the one he has developed and marketed.

To see the major difference between TheraTears and high oncotic pressure drops, please review Dr. Holly's writings, here, on why hypertonic and hypotonic drops cannot achieve what high oncotic drops do, in terms of altering tear film physics. Dwelle, Dakrina, and FreshKote, fyi, are the only high oncotic drops currently available.

Enjoy your visit, and I will be hoping that much of benefit comes to you from it. If it does not, however, please know that there are approaches other than TheraTears that could prove highly helpful to your case. You will find huge amounts of information here at DEZ on a great number of these other approaches.

so you are saying that he is likley to recommend only his products and not much more as far as therapies? If that is the case, not sure how excited I am about going. What type of tests did he do on you? I am curious to see if he can at least tell me whether my dry eye is moderate or severe and at least confirm a previous diagnosis from an opthalmologist of evaporative dry eye.

[Rojzen]

visit can always be enlightening

Hi, CatB: Since it has been nearly 10 years since I saw Dr. Gilbard, I can't say what tests he will perform now, but for me, he did a good diagnostic workup, focusing on the telangiectasias (broken blood vessels) on my face. These convinced him that I have ocular rosacea and associated "evaporative" dry eye. He did Schirmers, too, and concluded that my lacrimal function is OK. Based on these findings, he prescribed TheraTears and doxycycline. Tomorrow, you will benefit from any additional approaches he has developed over time. I would be hopeful and open-minded, because Dr. Gilbard is a very learned man, and very motivated.

I would, nonetheless, be surprised if Dr. Gilbard is open to high oncotic pressure drops, like Dwelle, as the theory behind these rather contradicts the theory behind TheraTears. But let things proceed, and, if you like, ask him to explain why he feels that high oncotic pressure may not be useful, and why a hypertonic (or hypotonic) drop would be better in your case. . .

In other words, you can make any doctor visit highly enlightening if you are willing to inquire and to get clarification, where needed. . .We will all look forward to your update. . .