Dry Eye Syndrome is a very common condition.
As the name suggests, it occurs when you have insufficient moisture in the eye. This happens because of either a lack of tear production or increased evaporation of the tear film.
As a result, your eyes may feel irritated, gritty or sore. You may see some redness and experience blurred vision and even though it seems like a contradiction – dry eyes can actually make your eyes water excessively.
While treatment for Dry Eye Syndrome will vary depending on how serious your condition is, we offer the new IPL treatment for dry eyes here at Gulf & Ranges Optometrists.
So what is IPL treatment?
IPL stands for “Intense Pulsed Light”. It’s been around for a while in other areas of health, particularly in the treatment of skin conditions, but now this innovative technology can help people suffering from dry eye conditions to give their eyelid glands a boost.
The IPL treatment targets the blood vessels around your Meibomian glands. These are the tiny oil glands, which secrete the oil that coats the surface of our eyes. These glands also help to stop our tears from evaporating. The oil and the water combined create what we call a tear film.
IPL treatment improves the function of your Meibomian glands. The stimulation of the vessels helps the glands to start to improve very soon after treatment – typically after a few hours. The effect of treatment is cumulative, so the results get better (and last for longer) each time you have a session.
IPL is a non-invasive and gentle treatment so you won’t experience any pain at all. And, each treatment lasts around 15 minutes. The treatment offers long term relief, with more than 86% of patients experiencing an improvement after only three sessions.
