IPL with Dr Toyos

[stephgurl1986]

Sazy, have you considered doing an internship or summer job during your stay if you stay for 6 weeks? I just started looking for some as I now plan do go to CA next April after finishing university in March. I started to look for internships and found out that there are lots of part time internships - great thing if your eyes hate working in an office with a computer. Or maybe you could do some social work?

[sazy123]

Sazy, have you considered doing an internship or summer job during your stay if you stay for 6 weeks? I just started looking for some as I now plan do go to CA next April after finishing university in March. I started to look for internships and found out that there are lots of part time internships - great thing if your eyes hate working in an office with a computer. Or maybe you could do some social work?

Hi yeah i had a look, but its too late to apply for it now- i would of had to apply months ago to get a J1 visa as you have to go through this process of interviews etc.. Although not sure about internship (what is it?), but i expect its just as hard as you still need the visa.

I should have thought about this before- but tbh i find it really difficult to work in alot of jobs with my eyes, but something part time might have been ok.

[autumnn]

Third treatment

Hi All
I had my third treatment Friday- it went very well but I wont post too much because I want to give it a few more weeks for my eyes/lids to adjust to the treatment. They were very sore afterward, Dr. Toyos worked hard to get the glands open after the treatment. Anyway, when I went in, upon first examination, I had 70 percent of my right eye's lower glands open and they were producing "fairly good" oil- this is the eye that usually feels good. The left is 50 percent open but producing crystallized junk (he showed my boyfriend this under the slit lamp and my boyfriend said it looked like glitter on my eye whereas when he looked at the right eye is was smooth oil)- that is probably why the left eye burns more. After the third treatment he expressed the glands and believes he got them all open- who knows if and when they will stay open or when they will begin producing "good" oil- but it seems I am on the right tract and have faith that this will come. Since Friday I have noticed improvements with both eyes despite the lids being sore....but again, I do not want to say much until a few more weeks pass. My faith in Dr. Toyos remains strong!

[irish eyes]

Hi Autumn

As ever - a highly detailed account.

Thanks for that.

[sazy123]

Hey autumn thats great!

|I have my second appointment on the 25th do ill let you know how it goes.

good luck to those others doing the treatment.

[Gretchen]

Sore

Hi Autumnn -

Thank you for the update. How are your eyelids now? When you say they are sore, are they red and swollen/puffy? Or has it subsided?

Thanks,
Gretchen

[skygoddess]

Hi,
I just came across this thread, and I just read it from from start till now.

I am always excited at the thought of a new treatment.
( especially one that makes me look better )

But
Can I play Devils advocate for a moment?
I couldn't help but notice something.

The Dr suggested using azasite before treatment.
And limiting exposure to allergens, the whole puppy dog section.
Plus, it sounds like he is expressing meibomian gland in his office .
Someone also mentioned wearing moisture glasses.

Could it be ,these are the things that are actually helping?

I have had significant improvement in my symptoms, and these are the very changes that help me.

I must sound like a partypooper , I know. But these are expensive treatments.
I assume they are not covered by insurance, since it probably falls under cosmetic treatments.

Although I might be interested in spending that kind of money to get rid of some wrinkles,

If I can get almost the same dry eye relief with azasite, dumping fragrance, buying a doggy bed, a good pair of moisture glasses, and my Dr expressing my glands...?
Well , now I am not so sure.

[Gretchen]

I too am circumspect about this whole thing, but don't know in these cases if I see these small measures as being the silver bullet. Autumnn has been at this a long time and tried a lot of things. See some of her other postings. I find it hard to believe that she is seeing a change because she makes her dogs sleep on the couch.

I am tentative because no one has gotten better yet. But they are still early in the treatment.

Toyos prescribes one bottle of Azasite for folks that have an active case of anterior blepharitis before the treatment begins. And then it is my understanding that he asks you to stop everything that you are doing, even warm compresses.

[skygoddess]

It was just a thought. I had a very bad case of MGD rosacea and blepharitis. I got 90% better with those changes.
Don't under estimate the role allergies play. People with Rosacea, have a much higher incidence or allergies and subsequencially allergic conjunctivitis ) than the general population.

Azasite is also prescribed for MGD.

All that said, I think theoretically at least, IPL could help.
It makes sense to me that reducing the Rosacea would be a good idea.

I just would make sure I was doing all I could of the less costly options , Before I spent that much money

[LasikRelatedDES]

It's worth asking the questions. If something is a miracle cure, I'd hope that more doctors would be practicing it and it would be a common treatment. To my knowledge, there seems to be about 3 or 4 doctors in the country doing this right now.

FYI... Dr. Latkany responded to my questions about IPL here: http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showthread.php?t=8916

With that said, I want to believe.

[autumnn]

I too am circumspect about this whole thing, but don't know in these cases if I see these small measures as being the silver bullet. Autumnn has been at this a long time and tried a lot of things. See some of her other postings. I find it hard to believe that she is seeing a change because she makes her dogs sleep on the couch.

I am tentative because no one has gotten better yet. But they are still early in the treatment.

Toyos prescribes one bottle of Azasite for folks that have an active case of anterior blepharitis before the treatment begins. And then it is my understanding that he asks you to stop everything that you are doing, even warm compresses.

I have been very bad the dogs have not been on my couch but in my bed (Dr Toyos has reluctantly allowed me to use Pataday for the allergies- but I have to say- I had this eye problem long before the dogs).....and, I did not use Azasite (or havent recently, I mean)....I will post more about how I am feeling in a few weeks but I see positive changes. No one has "gotten better" yet who is on this particular forum but I have met and spoken with patients who have.....we shall see. If other methods work that are less expensive or complicated I would encourage those first....unfortunately those didnt work for me...

[skygoddess]

Just wondering, did it improve your skin, or reduce wrinkles?
I might be tempted to try it for those reasons, then if it didn't help with my eyes , at least I would look good!

Seriously, I hope it works, we all could use some new hope.
Quite a lot of treatments for other conditions came about by accident.
Botox actually helps migraine sufferers. Patients reported to their Docs that they had less headaches after botox treatment.

I don't discount the possibility that there could be a unintentional positive side effect that helps dry eyes.
We won't ever know unless someone tries it first.

[sazy123]

It was just a thought. I had a very bad case of MGD rosacea and blepharitis. I got 90% better with those changes.
Don't under estimate the role allergies play. People with Rosacea, have a much higher incidence or allergies and subsequencially allergic conjunctivitis ) than the general population.

Azasite is also prescribed for MGD.

All that said, I think theoretically at least, IPL could help.
It makes sense to me that reducing the Rosacea would be a good idea.

I just would make sure I was doing all I could of the less costly options , Before I spent that much money

I have done most of the less costly options and had no improvement.

Although after your post on another thread about allergies, i decided when i got back to do a big allergy overhaul.

So far ive done:
1) Cleaned all my room- complete clean out and hovered under everything- bed, desks etc.
2) cleaned my car inside
2) re washed all bedding sheats and all my clothes with non perfumed (soap nuts)
3) washed my duvet and pillows at hot (90) to kill dust mites.
4) got dust mite covers for: pillows, mattress and duvet
5) got non perfumed shampo/conditioner (clean and clear), soap, face cream, deodorant
6) had my airpurifyier for dust on

Is there anything im missing for perfume allergy?
- what is needed to set a reaction off?, smelling something for example? i just dont see how you can avoid that- i lived in a family house with 6 others.

At first i thought it was helping, but last two days back to normal despite doing all this, today they are awful. And i think if its an allergy you should notice a difference fairly quickly.

I do think there has been a slight benefit from something since the IPL it is hard to tell as my throat has been on and off, so i cant say if its the IPL. But overall they seem abit better.

I definitely agree those with rosacea have a higher incidence of allergy's i think MGD and rosacea makes you vulnerable to them and then allergies make it worse and i think that is something that is happening in my case (particularly when i take in to account the cranula sp?- going red as well), but im not sure its the underlying cause for me anyway because i think i would have seen some evidence of it by now. But the inner eyelid conjunctivitis certainly gives an allergy appearance and my glands are not blocked, so its really frustrating!

[sazy123]

Just wondering, did it improve your skin, or reduce wrinkles?
I might be tempted to try it for those reasons, then if it didn't help with my eyes , at least I would look good!

Seriously, I hope it works, we all could use some new hope.
Quite a lot of treatments for other conditions came about by accident.
Botox actually helps migraine sufferers. Patients reported to their Docs that they had less headaches after botox treatment.

I don't discount the possibility that there could be a unintentional positive side effect that helps dry eyes.
We won't ever know unless someone tries it first.

I have not noticed much improvement in my skin so far, thats also why i dont think so far theres an improvement in my eyes. I have been eating alot better so that has helped my skin abit as it wasnt the best as i was eating crap for abit before hand. But i will stress- eating well doesnt seem to help my eyes.

Does anyone know if you can still drink alchole whilst doing this treatment? (only way i can socialise when my eyes are bad).

[Gretchen]

Sazy -

Did Dr Toyos say that you had blocked glands?

Thanks,
Gretchen