Dry Eye Treatments

It's not "just" dry eye. Dry Eye is a chronic disease that has a major impact on your quality of life. Blurred vision, discomfort, burning sensations, grittiness... and that's just the symptoms! Corneal damage, permanent vision loss, irreversible damage to and loss of meibomian glands, and more can result from "just" dry eye. Severity of symptoms varies from person to person- but we know one thing for sure:

​​​​​​​The worst thing you can do is nothing.

Let's Do Something!

Before we delve into more lasting dry eye treatment options, there are a few simple self-care options that can help alleviate symptoms of minor cases of dry eye.

• Blink regularly when reading or staring at a computer screen for a long time.

• Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water each day to avoid dehydration.

• Find out if any of your prescriptions have dry eye as a side effect and, if so, see if you can take an alternative.

• Take medical grade Omega 3 supplements (re-esterified triglyceride form) as these help thin oil in your meibomian glands and improve flow.

• Utilize only preservative-free artificial tears to supplement your tear production.

Dynamic Muscle Stimulation Therapy

We are proud to offer Dynamic Muscle Stimulation Therapy (DMST) enhanced with Radiofrequency to strengthen the muscles around the eye to improve your blink and lid seal. Think of your eyes as the windshield of your car. Your eyelids are your windshield wipers! If you have an incomplete blink, it’s similar to your wipers only wiping 50% of your windshield. If you have a poor lid seal, it’s similar to your wipers being bent or damaged and not staying flat against your windshield. What happens to the parts of your windshield that aren’t getting wiped in either option? Those parts get dirty, stay wet, stay covered in ice/snow, and block your vision. With an incomplete blink and/or poor lid seal, your cornea is not protected by tears and oil and develops sores. DMST uses electrical impulses to stimulate branches of facial nerves, stimulating the surrounding muscle fibers to contract and resulting in involuntary muscle contractions. The supramaximal contractions prevent muscle overexertion- so it improves muscle toning without the post-workout pain. The improvement in lid laxity has proven to improve tear evaporation time on the eye by 200%!

Intense Pulse Light

Intense Pulse Light, also known as IPL, is intense pulses of non-coherent light distributed over a range of wavelengths from 400nm to 1200nm. The treatment targets the overgrowth of staph or blood vessels that can damage meibomian glands, terminates demodex mites, and liquefies blocked oils treating the cause of inflammation and rosacea. It also has aesthetic offerings of treating wrinkles and other skin conditions

Low Level Light Therapy

You’ve seen the devices everywhere from Amazon to TikTok- but the range in strength of treatment from retail options to medical-grade differs greatly. Originally researched and developed by NASA, low level light therapy uses specifically designed LED lights to gently warm the eyelids, causing the meibomian glands to unclog and release oils along with reducing surface-level inflammation. Quick and painless, it also can help decrease the appearance of facial wrinkles, acne, and rosacea.

Mibo Thermoflo

The MiBo Thermoflo is a therapeutic medical device providing a safe and effective alternative therapy for dry eyes. It uses a proprietary thermoelectric heat pump to help maximize liquefaction of meibum, thus improving preservation and function of the evaporative component of the tear film.The MiBo Thermoflo supplies continuous controlled heat that is applied to the outer skin of the eyelids along with ultrasound gel for a gentle massage. The heat is absorbed deep into the tissue and breaks down the hardened lipids in the meibomian glands.

Prescription Dry Eye Treatments

With how complex Dry Eye Disease is and how it affects various parts of the eye, there are a variety of pharmaceutical drug options targeted at different symptoms. Dr. Roggy will advise the best option for your comfort.

• Antibiotics– If your eyelids are inflamed, this can prevent oil glands from secreting oil into your tears. Your doctor may recommend antibiotics to reduce inflammation.

• Anti-inflammatory drugs – These are eye drops to control inflammation on the surface of your eyes (cornea) using the immune-suppressing medication cyclosporine (Restasis) or corticosteroids.

• Tear-stimulating drugs – Available as pills, gel or eye drops, cholinergic (pilocarpine, cevimeline), these help to increase tear production.

Collagen Plugs

Punctal plugs are tiny devices that are placed in the eye’s tear ducts, called puncta, which drain tears from your eyes. This plug insertion blocks tears from draining from the eye. Plugs help keep the eye’s surface moist and comfortable.

Demodex Blepharitis Treatment

The overpopulation of demodex mites on the lashes and within the oil glands mimics the symptoms of dry eye disease and contributes to your discomfort with itching, burning, redness, and lash loss. While tea tree is a common, but uncomfortable, treatment- there are other options! We offer natural Okra-based exfoliating and antiparasitic treatments, sanitizing low level light therapy, and a couple pharmaceutical options to offer the best solution customized for you.