Posted on Nov 30, 2017 in
MEDICAL FOCUS
The Lipflow II electronic device.
There are many factors that contribute to dry eye disease. Autoimmune diseases like Sojgren’s Syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid, lupus erythematosus, and diabetes go hand and hand with dry eye. Many of the medications used to treat high blood pressure, allergies, acid reflux, and anxiety disorders cause a large decrease in tear production. Constant use of computers and other handheld devices like cell phones, minipads, and gaming devices cause dry eye as well as previous refractive surgery.
There are so many over-the-counter eye drops available in name brand and store name versions that the general public has no idea that all eye moisturizers are not created equally. If you are not properly diagnosed with the type of dry eye you have, you may very well be wasting your money. Until recently the technology was not available for doctors to determine whether a patient has aqueous deficiency or evaporative form of dry eye.
The lack of adequate tear production is called aqueous deficiency and the lack of oil production is called evaporative dry eye. For aqueous deficiency the only treatment is either over the counter aqueous replacement drops or prescription ant-inflammatory drops. With evaporative dry eye there are OTC oil enhancing eye drops, home heat treatments and in doctor’s office procedures to get the oil glands open and free flowing. Eye blinking exercises to enhance the normal action of the eyelids and oral supplements are also very beneficial.
Lipiscan is the latest form of non-invasive scanning of the physiology of the eyelid and allows the doctor to determine if the oil producing glands are healthy and free flowing. Using infrared light, the Lipiscan produces an image of the eyelid glands somewhat like an x -ray.
“The Lipflow II is the only electronic device cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of MGD, meibomian gland dysfunction, with clinical studies that demonstrate safety and effectiveness.” Lipiflow II is an in- office treatment that warms up the eyelids, using vectored thermal pulsation technology liqufying the meibem (oil) in the lids and then massaging and expressing the blocked oils from the glands. The treatment is designed to restore the natural oil by allowing the glands to refill with healthy oils, that will flow to the eye’s surface and into the natural tear film. Lipiflow II is already available in many doctors offices and can be found by going to dryeyeandmgd.com.
The Lipflow II electronic device is now available at the office of Dr. Elissa Wedemeyer, OD. Call 281-499-2600 for more information.
