OptiLight by Lumenis
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.
Our practice believes that it’s unacceptable for our patients to live in discomfort. Every patient we see for dry eye receives a personalized experience with our top-of-the-line technology to diagnose, treat, and prevent the issue from returning in the same way.
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
For the best treatment results, we ask for you to make a few simple lifestyle changes before your appointment. Firstly, please avoid any lengthy exposure to direct sunlight for 2 weeks prior to your treatment.
To reduce your skin’s sensitivity to light, please also avoid using any face creams containing retinol or citrus-based essential oils for 2 weeks before your appointment.
Finally, please avoid wearing any makeup on the day of your treatment. Makeup can impact results and take extra time to remove during your appointment.
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 [depending on the doctor].
After Your Treatment
After your treatment, we’ll give you a warm, damp towel to clean up the area around your eyes. Although side effects are rare and minimal, we provide our patients with a 30-50 SPF facial sunscreen to help reduce potential sunburn on the treated area. Other side effects include mild facial flush, only lasting for a few hours after treatment.
Part of Your Custom Treatment Plan
A course of treatment typically includes 4 sessions spaced 2–4 weeks apart [depending on the doctor].
In addition to OptiLight, we may recommend other dry eye therapy options to assist in clearing blockages. Our practice also offers Tear Care, a treatment that uses light heat to melt any tear blockages. Tear Care only takes 15 minutes.
As each patient’s eyes are different, everyone requires and deserves special care. Our practice is dedicated to finding the right solution for each patient.
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.