Blephasteam Goggle Review (for MGD)

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.)

[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.

[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]

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.

It's great to hear everyone's routine!

[Meibum Ian]

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.

[Alix]

So I used my Blephasteam for the first time today, I guess I need to use it a couple of times more to give it a proper chance to work, but my first impressions are that it does not warm up or steam up as much as I expected it to? At least it doesn't irritate my eyes but it doesn't seem to have any effect good or bad. Would using the paper towel method help to create more steam maybe? The paper rings are very thin...

[Meibum Ian]

I find the rings can be easily re-used 3-4 times. After that they tend to break.

Should I buy the pack of 100 replacement rings? Or does the blephasteam already come with rings that will last a long time? I purchased the blephasteam on amazon.de for 200 euros; it looked legit but amazon.de didn't sell a seperate pack of 100 replacement rings and they were available on amazon.com.

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.

[rockomon]

I was in Europe when I ordered it, and had it shipped to me there. I'm so sorry, but I don't know how to get it shipped to the U.S. :-(

Hopefully someone else in the forum who has figured out how to do that will come along and be able to help you with this.

Should I buy the pack of 100 replacement rings? Or does the blephasteam already come with rings that will last a long time? I purchased the blephasteam on amazon.de for 200 euros; it looked legit but amazon.de didn't sell a seperate pack of 100 replacement rings and they were available on amazon.com.

That's an excellent question.

[rockomon]

Amazon won't allow me to deliver it to my US address. How were you able to get it shipped? I tried to purchase it from the seller you (the original poster) listed.

[Topher3]

Yes, I’ve been doing this for months saved me a lot of money!

I hope it's working for anyone who decided to give it a try!

epicjinx Yeah, I think for most people who don't have my issues with compresses and crazy eyelid-to-eyeball sticking, warm compresses make a lot of sense since they are soooo inexpensive to use.

And thanks for letting me know about the emojis... can't figure out why mine don't show. Even if I manually type in a colon-bracket symbol, it gets stripped out of my post when I hit the "Post Reply" button. I'm going to check my settings to see if I can find a reason for this in there! Thanks again!