What Is the OptiLight by Lumenis & How Can It Manage Your Dry Eye?
Dry eye disease is a widespread and common issue for up to 49 million Americans. This chronic condition can have a significant impact on your quality of life, causing a foreign body sensation in your eyes, pain, blurry vision, and dry or watery eyes. Untreated, it can even lead to further eye health complications.
Despite these constant detrimental effects on quality of life, many dry eye sufferers are not aware that they’re suffering from dry eye disease or that real treatments exist. Instead, they just live with the discomfort.
Precision Eyecare understands how important your eye comfort is to your day to day life, so we’ve made it our mission to provide some of the latest dry eye treatments available, including OptiLight by Lumenis. By helping find meaningful dry eye relief, our goal is to help improve your quality of life.
We’re proud to offer OptiLight by Lumenis to our patients, specially designed for dry eye management.
What Is OptiLight by Lumenis?
OptiLight by Lumenis is a light-based, non-invasive treatment done in the area below the eyes to manage dry eye. The first and only IPL FDA-approved for dry eye management.
The treatment is safe, gentle, and is backed by more than 20 clinical studies.
How Does It Work?
OptiLight uses precise pulses of light to reduce the inflammation that is typically associated with dry eye disease, improve tear break-up time, and increase meibomian gland functionality.
This application can significantly relieve dry eye indicators and has a multi-factorial effect, including:
- Increasing tear break-up time
- Reducing the amount of demodex mites and bacteria living around your eyes
- Eliminating blood vessels that contribute to inflammation
- Improving meibomian gland functionality
What to Expect
Before Your Treatment
Before we begin your treatment, we’ll need to examine your eyes to determine what may be causing your symptoms. We use a few different diagnostic strategies, including:
- Patient questionnaires
- Corneal & conjunctival staining
- TearLab osmolarity testing
- Meibomian gland evaluation
- Rosacea screening
- A look into your medical history
Several medications can lead to dry eyes, and some contact lens wearers might experience symptoms over time.
When you come in for your appointment, please bring information on your current eye drops, medications, and overall health history. We’ll have you fill out one of our dry eye questionnaires before moving on to our fully comprehensive eye exam.
During Your Treatment
This treatment is fast and simple. During the treatment your doctor will apply a coupling gel on the treatment area and cover your eyes with shields.
As light is applied to the skin, you may experience a warm sensation. The treatment is gentle with minimum discomfort. The treatment itself will only take 10–15 minutes.
OptiLight is often followed by meibomian gland expression.
After Your Treatment
Some people may experience some redness around the treated areas, similar to a light sunburn. However, these side effects are quite rare and should only last for a few hours at most.
For the next few weeks, we’d recommend using sunscreen, hats, and sunglasses to protect the skin around your eyes. Over the course of your treatment, you should experience gradual relief from dry eye symptoms.
Part of Your Custom Treatment Plan
A course of treatment typically includes 4 sessions spaced 2–4 weeks apart.
We’ll be happy to book your sessions where it’s most convenient for you. If you’re not experiencing the relief you were looking for, we’ll be happy to develop a new strategy based off what’s best for you and your needs.
Some of our other treatments include:
- Eyelid cleaning gels with tea tree oil
- Meibomian gland expressions with forceps
- Prescription eye drops
- Oral supplements
- Punctal plugs
- Warming eye masks
Will the OptiLight by Lumenis Work for Me?
While OptiLight by Lumenis is an effective dry eye management solution, we want to make sure it’s right for you. We do not recommend this treatment if you:
- Suffer from aqueous deficiency dry eye (rather than evaporative dry eye or meibomian gland dysfunction)
- Have a history of keloid scarring
- Have severe scarring around your eyes
Ultimately, your doctor is the only person who can determine whether this option is right for you. During your next appointment, ask us if you are a good candidate for OptiLight by Lumenis.
You Don’t Have to Live With Dry Eye Anymore
Dry, irritated eyes can be managed with a new treatment that brings comfort and can restore quality of life. Visit your eye doctor to get an accurate diagnosis and a treatment plan tailored to your needs.
