Blephasteam Goggle Review (for MGD)

[Guest]

It's great to hear everyone's routine!

[Alix]

I find it effective. This is my routine:

Turn on blephasteam, wait until green light comes on.
Fully dunk rings in boiled water (boiled to remove chlorine etc)
Put on goggles, but do not push button
Wait 5 minutes. Should feel somewhat warm by this time.
Push button
Do blinking exercises with blephasteam on

I feel obvioius loosening and movement of oils by the time it's finished (usually just before it times out).

It doesan't feel obviously steamy at the time, but external eyelid skin is obviously wet when it's finished.

Thank you for this, I did exactly the same yesterday the second time I used the machine, and I felt the heat this time.
There was also alot of condensation on my eyelids.

[Alix]

For comparison... I'll share my routine also - I frigging love my Blephasteam (where are the heart emojis when you need them? lol)...

Thank you I will try your paper towel method today! I was expecting more steam, but thinking about it, they shouldn't steam up otherwise you wouldn't be able to do other things at the same time, something that the manufacturer presents as a plus point of the machine.

My eyes still felt gritty after use, but as you say it's not going to be a cure for people with scarred glands like me. Still, I am hoping with constant use over time, it will help alleviate the symptoms. The machine is easy to use, though I am a bit worried I will break it, it is so fragile!! By the way do you know how to make it last longer than 10 minutes? I read somewhere you can eek it out for another couple of minutes but pressing the green button again but it didn't work.

I don't have a magnifying mirror but yes agree it's a good idea to monitor the gland openings.

[Alix]

Having used my Blephasteam a couple more times I am wondering if my machine is faulty or whether it is supposed to be that way. I’ll explain. When I put the goggles on, the inside feels like room temperature. When I touch the outside of the goggles they feel tepid, I would not say very warm.

I find it hard to believe it is at 42c. For comparison I heated up my Bruder Mask which I used to use for warm eye compress and measured the heat with my thermometer and at 42c it feels a lot hotter than the Blephasteam.

Also there is now not much condensation on my eyelids.

When I use the Bruder Mask my eyes become inflamed whereas with Blephasteam they do not so it is possible that the way I measure the temperature is not accurate i.e. the mask could be a lot hotter than 42c.

[Guest]

On mine, the gasket that goes onto your face feels room temperature. But the interior glass (or are they plastic lenses?) feel quite warm.

When you say the inside feels like room temperature, does it stay that way for the entire 10 minute treatment, or is it just temporary while the heat builds up?

Troubleshooting questions...

1. Do you wait for the green light to be solid before you put the Blephasteam goggles on?
2. When you press the button to begin treatment, do you see the green light start to flash?
3. When the 10 minute treatment is over, does the indicator light go off?
4. Are the goggles sealing properly onto your face? You should not feel cool room air flowing in around the edges of the goggles when wearing them. Mine fit onto my face with a very light suction... kind of like wearing a snorkel mask. If yours aren't sealing right, might be worth experimenting with the tightness of the elastic strap that goes around your head to optimize the fit.
5. The amount of moisture in the rings makes a difference... once I accidentally did a treatment after waiting too long post-ring insertion and the air inside the goggles felt much less warm than usual... I couldn't figure out why, until I removed my goggles and saw that the rings felt bone dry (whereas usually after a treatment they feel slightly damp still). I'd put the rings in after the goggles finished heating up, then gotten distracted by something and left them there for - I don't know - maybe 5, 10, or 15 minutes? - before putting the goggles on for my treatment. During the time they were in there exposed to air in the room, the heat from the goggles was slowly evaporating the water in the rings so by the time I put the goggles on, there wasn't enough water left in them.

When I touch the outside of the goggles they feel tepid, I would not say very warm.

When mine are finished heating up (green indicator light comes on and is solid), the outside of the goggles (plastic/rubber frame) is very warm on the outside of the glass, and gradually gets to room temperature as you feel your way away from the glass towards the gaskets that go on your face (I am feeling in the front middle (width) top and bottom of each side of the goggle... if I felt at the outside or far inside of the sides, they wouldn't be very warm at all compared to how it feels in the middle section.)

[Guest]

On mine, the gasket that goes onto your face feels room temperature. But the interior glass (or are they plastic lenses?) feel quite warm.

When you say the inside feels like room temperature, does it stay that way for the entire 10 minute treatment, or is it just temporary while the heat builds up?

Troubleshooting questions...

1. Do you wait for the green light to be solid before you put the Blephasteam goggles on?
2. When you press the button to begin treatment, do you see the green light start to flash?
3. When the 10 minute treatment is over, does the indicator light go off?
4. Are the goggles sealing properly onto your face? You should not feel cool room air flowing in around the edges of the goggles when wearing them. Mine fit onto my face with a very light suction... kind of like wearing a snorkel mask. If yours aren't sealing right, might be worth experimenting with the tightness of the elastic strap that goes around your head to optimize the fit.
5. The amount of moisture in the rings makes a difference... once I accidentally did a treatment after waiting too long post-ring insertion and the air inside the goggles felt much less warm than usual... I couldn't figure out why, until I removed my goggles and saw that the rings felt bone dry (whereas usually after a treatment they feel slightly damp still). I'd put the rings in after the goggles finished heating up, then gotten distracted by something and left them there for - I don't know - maybe 5, 10, or 15 minutes? - before putting the goggles on for my treatment. During the time they were in there exposed to air in the room, the heat from the goggles was slowly evaporating the water in the rings so by the time I put the goggles on, there wasn't enough water left in them.

When mine are finished heating up (green indicator light comes on and is solid), the outside of the goggles (plastic/rubber frame) is very warm on the outside of the glass, and gradually gets to room temperature as you feel your way away from the glass towards the gaskets that go on your face (I am feeling in the front middle (width) top and bottom of each side of the goggle... if I felt at the outside or far inside of the sides, they wouldn't be very warm at all compared to how it feels in the middle section.)

Hi thank you for taking the time to reply, as always I am really grateful for your insight!

I have just finished using them for my second time today and made sure I paid attention to everything you wrote.

The green light goes solid, starts flashing, and turns off at the correct times. When it's time to put the goggles on, the lenses feel lukewarm on the outside and are warm to touch on the inside, but when I put the goggles on the insides just feel like room temperature. The lenses then gradually warm up over the 10 minutes but the plastic frames never heat up. By the time I feel like the interior of the goggles could possibly be at the right temperature (outside of lenses feel warmer than at the beginning to touch), the 10 minutes are up. I just wish that they could be that warm from the very beginning.

The goggles are sealing properly, there is no air coming in at all.

I think the problem could possibly be my perception of warmth would be warped at the moment (it's really cold here in the UK at the moment, so central heating is on maximum)
but at the same time, it is worrying that your frames are very warm, whereas mine do not warm up, just the lenses.

I'll carry on using them for now as they are not causing any irritation and see how it goes. Thanks again!

[Alix]

On mine, the gasket that goes onto your face feels room temperature. But the interior glass (or are they plastic lenses?) feel quite warm.

When you say the inside feels like room temperature, does it stay that way for the entire 10 minute treatment, or is it just temporary while the heat builds up?

Troubleshooting questions...

1. Do you wait for the green light to be solid before you put the Blephasteam goggles on?
2. When you press the button to begin treatment, do you see the green light start to flash?
3. When the 10 minute treatment is over, does the indicator light go off?
4. Are the goggles sealing properly onto your face? You should not feel cool room air flowing in around the edges of the goggles when wearing them. Mine fit onto my face with a very light suction... kind of like wearing a snorkel mask. If yours aren't sealing right, might be worth experimenting with the tightness of the elastic strap that goes around your head to optimize the fit.
5. The amount of moisture in the rings makes a difference... once I accidentally did a treatment after waiting too long post-ring insertion and the air inside the goggles felt much less warm than usual... I couldn't figure out why, until I removed my goggles and saw that the rings felt bone dry (whereas usually after a treatment they feel slightly damp still). I'd put the rings in after the goggles finished heating up, then gotten distracted by something and left them there for - I don't know - maybe 5, 10, or 15 minutes? - before putting the goggles on for my treatment. During the time they were in there exposed to air in the room, the heat from the goggles was slowly evaporating the water in the rings so by the time I put the goggles on, there wasn't enough water left in them.

When mine are finished heating up (green indicator light comes on and is solid), the outside of the goggles (plastic/rubber frame) is very warm on the outside of the glass, and gradually gets to room temperature as you feel your way away from the glass towards the gaskets that go on your face (I am feeling in the front middle (width) top and bottom of each side of the goggle... if I felt at the outside or far inside of the sides, they wouldn't be very warm at all compared to how it feels in the middle section.)

Hi thank you for taking the time to reply, as always I am grateful for your insight!

I have just finished using them the second time for today and made sure I paid attention to everything you wrote.

The green light goes solid, starts flashing, and turns off at the correct times. When it's time to put the goggles on, the lenses feel lukewarm on the outside and are warm to touch on the inside, but when I put the goggles on they just feel like room temperature. The lenses then gradually warm up over the 10 minutes but the frames never heat up. By the time I feel like the interior of the goggles could possibly be at the right temperature (outside of lenses feel warm to touch), the 10 minutes are up. I just wish that they could be that warm from the very beginning.

The goggles are sealing properly, there is no air coming in at all.

I think the problem could possibly be my perception of warmth is warped at the moment (it is really cold in the UK now so central heating is on at maximum) but at the same time, it is worrying that your frames warm up as well the lenses, whereas with mine only the lenses warm up.

I will carry on using them for now as they do not irritate my eyes and see how it goes. Thanks again!

[Guest]

By the time I feel like the interior of the goggles could possibly be at the right temperature (outside of lenses feel warm to touch), the 10 minutes are up.

I wonder if using Meibum Ian's approach - particularly the bolded part - might solve this problem for you...

I find it effective. This is my routine:

Turn on blephasteam, wait until green light comes on.
Fully dunk rings in boiled water (boiled to remove chlorine etc)
Put on goggles, but do not push button
Wait 5 minutes. Should feel somewhat warm by this time.
Push button
Do blinking exercises with blephasteam on

I just wish that they could be that warm from the very beginning.

I wonder if your existing room temperature is contributing to this... when I do my Blephasteam treatments, the room temperature for my morning treatment is about 24C or 25C ... for my nighttime Blephasteam treatment, the room temperature is about 29C or 30C (I'm still trying to duplicate the tropics in this room, using a portable heater).

Anyhow, because the room temperature is already quite warm, my Blephasteam likely feels warmer on me at the beginning of treatment than yours does (assuming your room temperature is colder than mine).

If this is indeed the issue, Meibum Ian's approach above (the bolded part) may help to fix that since wearing them for a few minutes before you officially start treatment by pressing the button give the air inside the goggles more time to heat up.

it is worrying that your frames warm up as well the lenses

Yes, this is the thing that makes me wonder also, and it's certainly possible that you received a defective pair. On the bright side, at least there's a 1 year warranty on them (granted, it's totally a hassle to have to deal with warranty returns on anything, so hopefully you won't have to!!).

Do you know what the room temperature is when you're doing the Blephasteam treatment? Depending on how cool it is in there, that may be enough to make the frames not feel warm. This is a long shot, but it's the only other thing I can thing of to suggest considering...

[Alix]

I wonder if using Meibum Ian's approach - particularly the bolded part - might solve this problem for you...

I wonder if your existing room temperature is contributing to this... when I do my Blephasteam treatments, the room temperature for my morning treatment is about 24C or 25C ... for my nighttime Blephasteam treatment, the room temperature is about 29C or 30C (I'm still trying to duplicate the tropics in this room, using a portable heater).

Yes this is it! I had been using my Blephasteam in the spare room which has the heating switched off, therefore it is very cold in there. After reading your latest post, I re-read the manual and it says you must use the machine where the temperature is between 15c and 30c!! The temperature in the room I was using it is at the bottom end of this range if not lower....!!

So this evening I used the Blephasteam in another room heated at room temperature, around 23c and the difference was immense. The lenses felt very warm after the 15 minutes were up, ie by the time the green light came on. Using Meibum Ian's approach helped as well, so the insides of the goggles felt warm throughout the whole treatment.

Thank you so much!!

[Guest]

Yes this is it! I had been using my Blephasteam in the spare room which has the heating switched off, therefore it is very cold in there. After reading your latest post, I re-read the manual and it says you must use the machine where the temperature is between 15c and 30c!! The temperature in the room I was using it is at the bottom end of this range if not lower....!!

So this evening I used the Blephasteam in another room heated at room temperature, around 23c and the difference was immense. The lenses felt very warm after the 15 minutes were up, ie by the time the green light came on. Using Meibum Ian's approach helped as well, so the insides of the goggles felt warm throughout the whole treatment.

Thank you so much!!

Oh awesome! I'm absolutely thrilled to hear it! :-D

[rockomon]

Double check what the seller's listing says is included in case it changes... but when I purchased it, it included 100 replacement rings. However, I experimented with using a rolled up piece of paper towel, making it damp, and placing it such that it lines the edges of the blephasteam goggles much the way their rings do... it seemed to work fine. So I'm leaning towards switching to the rolled up piece of damp paper towel method in future. That being said, I think it's wise to start off with the official Blephasteam rings since that will allow you to learn how it's supposed to feel... then one can try to duplicate that via damp, clean, paper towel rings.

What's the purpose of the rings? I'm planning on using the wet paper towels rolled up method too, to save money. The rings cost 75$ + tax on amazon for less than 2 months supply.

[Topher3]

The water in the rings allow to create a wet heat which is required to help open up the glands and allow for an appropriate expression of the gland. The moisture also is very comfortable and does not affect the tear film function negatively compared to a dry heat.

[HempOil]

FYI for those who might be considering a pair of Blephasteam goggles, I reached out to Thea about their availability and received the following reply:

Thank you for your email.

We have been advised by our suppliers that unfortunately, the Blephasteam will not be back in stock until at least mid-June.

We hope this is helpful.

Regards
Tracy Chambers

[Member]

Using a heated mask works just as good for me. It is meditative to lie still for 10 minutes. I think I am aquaous deficient, so for me a simple mask is more comforting.

[jcgc50]

Just learned of these goggles yesterday and considering my options. I've been using these for the past couple of years on the recommendation of my eye doc at the Mayo Clinic. It seems to work to some extent but I would certainly like something that worked better. http://www.heatedeyepad.com/

I ran across this interesting study on 4 different heating methods although it was performed on one patient. https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/455087

Based on that limited study the Lipiflow was the only treatment that hit the desired temps but the Blephasteam was next closest.

I'm a little reluctant to buy from this vendor and the price they are charging for the replacement pads seems to be a rip off when you look at the Amazon UK price of 14.50 pound sterling. https://smile.amazon.com/s?k=Blephas...f=nb_sb_noss_2