IPL with Dr Toyos

[amyk]

I have also been told that 90% of my glands are blocked or atrophied, and that compresses/massage may be useless. However, they get worse if I stop compresses/massage, so at least some glands must be doing something. I could use some more though!

I have never had them manually expressed, but one doctor supposedly scraped caps off of blocked glands by rubbing the margins with a dry qtip. He advised me to do that as part of the daily routine. I do not notice a difference in lid margin appearance or how my eyes feel after this, however (except for irritation). If doctors can get them unblocked after manual expression and/or the IPL procedure, how do we keep them unblocked? Are warm compresses/massage once or twice a day enough?

Autumn, do your eyes feel the same as they did right after the IPL, or have they changed? I may give it a try in a few weeks (assuming I am a candidate) and am awaiting a call back from the office.

[autumnn]

Hi Amy- I am not sure if I feel any different yet. I am trying to not make any quick judgements. For example, I am at work today and feel just as bad as usual. Yesterday though I thought I felt a little bit better.
It is hard when there is such little info on this procedure and no one to ask about how long it took to see results. I imagine though that it takes more than one treatment- especially considering just how blocked I am...

Sazy posted this from one of his articles:

"The first thing we noticed in patients treated with intense,
pulsed light is that their telangiectasias disappeared, as did
the erythema and swelling in the gland. Consequently, the
eyelids themselves appeared cleaner. One month after treatment,
meibomian glands that had not functioned at all
began to operate. Instead of resembling toothpaste, the
secretion we observed was thinner and more normal."

Sounds like it at least takes a month for results...

[sazy123]

Hi autmun

Does he do it it in tennasee? i thought he only did it in LA well he didnt give me tennasee as an option?

Im weighing up options at the moment, but i want to come out about the 20th of may for first appointment- then go home.

The second hopefully mid/end of june and 3 weeks. My gran said we could go to maimi as an uncle is there so i could stay there for 3 weeks and get demestic flight, but that will be abit of a treck!

Do you have the address of the Beverley hills clinic?

Im going to get some goggles for the trip but thats not easy! because if i cant use my P cream or compresses i wont survive.

Thanks for looking out for me, if you know anyone who has a spare room i can give abit of money!

Thanks sarax

[sazy123]

Ive booked an appointment for may the 28th! then fly home by for the 30th. which is 4 days before my exam! havent got flight yet.

Autmun do you think it will be ok to fly home the day after having it done?

[autumnn]

HI Sazy- I have no idea if he does the treatment in Tennessee. You should call and ask.
The treatment did not bother me at all afterwards and I could have gotten on a flight. I am so glad you are scheduled!
My second treatment is May 14th. I am still a bit nervous about this because I want it to work so badly and I am not sure how I am supposed to be feeling right now. I know that is is still SUPER early to judge. Sometimes, as I said before, I do notice a little difference and others I am not sure. The waiting to see if it works is so hard.
I am also still a bit hesitant about not doing compresses and do a short one before bed even though I was instructed not to.
I emailed Dr. Toyos about how I am supposed to be feeling now- he didnt email me back. I hate to bother him too much so I am just going to wait for my next appointment.

[amyk]

Appt with Dr. Toyos

I also scheduled an appointment with Dr. Toyos for the 1st week of June. I spoke to one of the nurses on the phone, and she mentioned that patients should be on azasite first before undergoing the initial treatment. She also mentioned that the initial treatment is pretty gentle but that subsequent treatments have higher intensity.

Autumn or Sazy - Did the office mention azasite to either of you? Also Autumn, how far beneath the eyelid did he go? I asked the nurse this question, and she said he could go as low as I want. I don't have a preference unless there is some benefit. Is there an advantage to going down to the cheekbone vs. staying right near the eyelid?

[Gretchen]

Facial!

Amyk -

I think that the benefit for going lower on your cheekbone would be that you get a free photofacial for any redness, telangectasias, or sunspots that you may have on your cheeks. If he throws it in for free with the eye work that he does, I would say bonus. But you should ask him. I think that he generally does a "strip" across the nose, and the cheeks and right under the eyes. On his website, there is an article that Eyeworld did that shows a diagram of the areas that he treats.

I will be watching all of you doing the treatment with so much interest - I really have my fingers crossed for you gals going where no DEZer's have gone before!

Gretchen

[sazy123]

I also scheduled an appointment with Dr. Toyos for the 1st week of June. I spoke to one of the nurses on the phone, and she mentioned that patients should be on azasite first before undergoing the initial treatment. She also mentioned that the initial treatment is pretty gentle but that subsequent treatments have higher intensity.

Autumn or Sazy - Did the office mention azasite to either of you? Also Autumn, how far beneath the eyelid did he go? I asked the nurse this question, and she said he could go as low as I want. I don't have a preference unless there is some benefit. Is there an advantage to going down to the cheekbone vs. staying right near the eyelid?

Ive been on azasite in the past twice and it didnt help, also im in the UK so cant get it.. so theres not much point.. I would try it again and smear on outer eyelashs/margins which i didnt do before and be on it longer as i wasnt on it that long but for the time i was- 1 month it didnt help and ive heard 1 month is enough for improvement.
Also i dont have much bleth, in the morning i have some crusts but i think thats more mucous from tears and residue from the gel.

I think it said in the article that if bad blepth is evident then that may have to be treated first, but mines not bad so dont think its a prob. No the receptionist didnt mention it.

They dont just do the eyelid they do the checks, nose forhead i think.

AmyK will you be posting your experiance? im sure people would be interested. I will post mine.

[sazy123]

HI Sazy- I have no idea if he does the treatment in Tennessee. You should call and ask.
The treatment did not bother me at all afterwards and I could have gotten on a flight. I am so glad you are scheduled!
My second treatment is May 14th. I am still a bit nervous about this because I want it to work so badly and I am not sure how I am supposed to be feeling right now. I know that is is still SUPER early to judge. Sometimes, as I said before, I do notice a little difference and others I am not sure. The waiting to see if it works is so hard.
I am also still a bit hesitant about not doing compresses and do a short one before bed even though I was instructed not to.
I emailed Dr. Toyos about how I am supposed to be feeling now- he didnt email me back. I hate to bother him too much so I am just going to wait for my next appointment.

thanks i found out he doesnt do it in tennesee but nvm. I had an option to do the 14th, but i just wana get these essays out the way, two down two to go. Then got two exams start of june, ones pretty easy though. So pushed for time, would be fine if didnt have dry eye!

Like you my left eye is worse, it never used to be worse than my right but i think its got worse, that or rights abit better. The inner inflammation is really bad in the left- i dont know if IPL will get to the vascularization of inner eyelids, but im hoping!

You havent got long till your next one and its stronger treatment so maybe the first if just to get it going but wont really feel it till the second.

[autumnn]

Hi AmyK- that is great to hear that he increases the intensity-I want it as intense as possible- my first session was a bit painful but I can take much more if it means opening up those glands.
Sazy- No one mentioned Azasite to me (though I saw it in his article) and he said my bleph wasnt a problem so he could treat me on the day of my consult. Since you are coming so far- maybe you should try to get your hands on a bottle to use just in case? Otherwise, it doesnt sound like bleph is your problem so I would guess that you would be OK. Is your grandmother coming with you to LA?

[sazy123]

Hi AmyK- that is great to hear that he increases the intensity-I want it as intense as possible- my first session was a bit painful but I can take much more if it means opening up those glands.
Sazy- No one mentioned Azasite to me (though I saw it in his article) and he said my bleph wasnt a problem so he could treat me on the day of my consult. Since you are coming so far- maybe you should try to get your hands on a bottle to use just in case? Otherwise, it doesnt sound like bleph is your problem so I would guess that you would be OK. Is your grandmother coming with you to LA?

Yeah dont think its a prob, my lashes larent too bad in the morn there is some crustyness in them but not loads. I think MGD causes it and as long as you have MGD you will have some bleph. Cant really get it either. UK is crap for dry eye. No she only mite be comming for the three weeks next time, but im not sure yet!

[autumnn]

Sazy, Amy, I hope so badly that this works for us, all of us taking this chance. I wish that there was more out there to read/learn in terms of personal experiences, etc of other patients. I am surprised that I cant find anything on the internet involving patients experiences.
I can tell you that a lot of times my right eye feels great, and there are times my left feels "tolerable" with reduced burning- I think this is progress but I am also being neurotic about trying to monitor my eyes- I cant make conclusions yet. My bf keeps telling me to relax- I've had one treatment and some need as many as 6- CALM DOWN he says. I understand what he is saying but there is a lot riding on this- I dont want to be let down and I dont want any of my fellow DEZ friends to be disappointed either. I think we are going to have to lean on each other a bit to get through this

[Lucy]

Autumnn,
You're doing great and also such a good thing for the rest of us. We are all hoping this IPL helps you. We wonder what may be in it for us. It will take time, of course, to see how many treatments you need.

You are lucky to have such a nice bf and his advice to "relax" is probably right on target. No matter what, you won't be letting any of us on DEZ down! You've been so good about posting all this stuff and we appreciate it. If one does fail at something here on DEZ, we all feel for the one hurting. But, honest, you won't let us down. Just keep reasonable expectations. Enjoy your bf in the meantime. Best of luck, Lucy

[autumnn]

Thank you so much Lucy. I really (REALLY) needed to hear that

[jenny2008]

Out of curiousity-does he only do this treatment in LA?