Meibomian Glands

 DRY EYE TREATMENT

lipiflow is one of the most advanced dry eye  treatments that someone can get at an eye clinic  

people have had amazing results to help them  with a dry condition but the tricky part  

is that it can be a costly  procedure with no insurance coverage  

so the question is is lipiflow  worth it let's focus in and your vision clear and i make videos all  about the eyes like this one to help you with   those tough decisions you have to make about your  eyes so consider subscribing for my future videos   when they come out now let's focus on lipiflow  lipiflow is one of the most advanced fda approved   dry eye treatments that you can have done at your  eye doctor's office if they have it it targets and   treats the oil glands in your eyelids specifically  if you have meibomian gland dysfunction the oil   glands in your eyelids are called meibomian glands  and they run vertical up and down your eyelids top   and bottom now they're responsible for pumping and  pushing out oil over the top layer of your tears   if you don't have enough oil or the wrong  type of oil then your tears will evaporate   leaving your eyeball exposed to the air causing  them to get dry and inflamed and causing dry ice   symptoms that you might expect now if your  oil glands are clogged or they're shortened   or they're at your feet or you don't have the  right type of oil or their plane not functioning   very well then you have what's called meibomian  gland dysfunction and it's one of the most common   core issues to dry eye problems and that's exactly  what lipiflow treats it treats the core issue it   treats meibomian gland dysfunction now the actual  lipiflow procedure is ran by a computer console   and single use activators now before you actually  do the procedure your eye doctor might do a little   bit of prep work usually they'll put in an  anesthetic eye drop to numb your eyes first   and then they may also debride your eyelids  or clean off any capped hardened oil from your   oil glands and that will make the procedure  more effective then they'll place the actual   activators between your eyeball and your eyelids  top and bottom now what's kind of neat about the   activators especially the white bowl that you see  here is that it serves two functions the inside   will protect your cornea from the actual procedure  the outside is where all the heat is applied and   that's applied to the inner layer of the eyelids  and that's part of what makes this procedure   so effective is that it's applying that the heat  to the inside of the eyelids and not the outside   so once your activators are in place the device  is turned on and the activators are heated up to   exactly 42.5 degrees Celsius the heat that they  found that works the best now each activator has   these little bladders on there that will massage  your oil glands and they massage in a peristaltic   motion pretty much meaning that they start from  the the beginning of the oil glands or the base   of the oil glands and then they'll squeeze  and massage trying to remove and push any   obstruction or hardened oil out of the opening of  the oil gland it's kind of like you're pretty much  just milking your own oil glands now with  this combination where you have the heat   applied to the inside of the eyelids and that  peristaltic massage that combination works really   well at cleaning and clearing out your oil glands  to help them function better in the future now the   procedure lasts exactly 12 minutes you do both  eyes at the same time and then when you're done   they're able to remove the activators  really safely and then you're all finished   now what to expect right after the procedure you  may experience some redness itchiness maybe some  more dryness or inflammation sometimes your eye  doctor may prescribe a steroid eye drop to help.