More effective than other methods? Probably.
How many patients cannot get sufficient improvement to MGD with other treatments? Dunno.
Pricing? Absolutely scary.
How much symptomatic relief and for how long? Probably all over the map based on what I've heard so far.
If they can make it work financially while using it on people who actually truly need it, great. One of my worries about this sort of thing is that the high-dollar treatments for the most part attract the desperate people who often have quite complex cases whose symptoms are probably not exclusively attributable to blocked MGs.
TearScience Announces First U.S.-Based Eye Care Practice, Carolina Vision Center, to Offer LipiFlow(R) Treatment
MORRISVILLE, N.C., Oct 14, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- TearScience, Inc., a privately-held medical device company, today announced that Fayetteville, North Carolina-based Carolina Vision Center, is the first eye care center in United States to commercially offer the LipiFlow(R) Thermal Pulsation System, a breakthrough treatment for evaporative dry eye disease. TearScience's LipiFlow is designed to address meibomian gland dysfunction, allowing for the treatment of eyelid gland blockages during a non-invasive procedure administered at an eye care office. Opening the blocked eyelid glands allows the glands to resume the natural production of lipids (oils) needed for a healthy tear film. TearScience received U.S. FDA clearance for its LipiFlow(R) medical device on June 28, 2011.
2 comments:
Completely agree.
I dont have blocked glands so wont be trying it. But before I knew much about dry eye I would have out of desperation since nothing else works.
I had the lipiflow treatment at the Jules Stein Institute in California. Having a very severe case of dry eyes, and completely plugged Meibomian glands, I really expected it to help. To date, I would not say that really great things happened, although my local eye doctor said that the glands looked "different" than they did prior to the procedure. There is a measurement that they take prior that actually measures the thickness of your oily tear layer, and I am supposed to go back at 6 wks to do a recheck and they will measure this again. In theory, it should be a lot thicker. I'll let you know how it goes. The numbers can't lie. I think that I agree with the comment that dry eyes, especially severe cases, are very complex, and one modality of treatment is not all that is needed.
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