Dry Eye Disease is a common condition seen by eye care professionals. It has a significant impact on quality of life, with symptoms such as foreign body sensation, pain, blurry vision, dryness or watery eyes. Risk factors include skin pathologies, immune or hormonal imbalances, environmental conditions, and poor hygiene.

Cary Family Eye Care is proud to offer Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) and Systane iLux for the treatment of dry eye.

Treatment involves the application of IPL pulses on the cheeks, nose (from tragus to tragus), and below the lower eyelids, usually administered in two passes. IPL settings depend on skin type. The schedule of treatments consists of 4 sessions, 2 to 4 weeks apart. Usually a single maintenance treatment is required after 6 to 12 months.

IPL (Intense Pulse Light) therapy uses intense pulses of non-coherent light distributed over a range of wavelengths, from 400nm to 1200nm. Specific wavelength ranges to target various chromophores in the skin. In dry eye treatment, IPL targets telangiectasia in the eyelids and eye area. Clinical research shows IPL treatment of dry eye: Destroys the abnormal blood vessels that are perpetuating the inflammation, decreases the level of pro-inflammatory mediators and inhibits the progression of the inflammation, reduces the tear film osmolarity back to normal levels, restores meibomian gland’s morphology and functionality, and decreases Demodex mites stimulating infection leading to MGD (Meibomian Gland Dysfunction).

The iLux Thermal Pulsation Treatment for dry eye is used to heat and compress glands in the eyelids of patients with Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD), a common cause of evaporative dry eye. iLux treatment takes only 8-12 minutes and is an effective, drug-free way to manage symptoms of dry eye. Our doctors can evaluate to determine if you would benefit from iLux treatment.

The following DEQ-5 questionnaire is a helpful tool in evaluating the severity of your Dry Eye symptoms. We encourage patients that are experiencing symptoms of Dry Eye and/or might be interested in treatment to bring a copy of their completed questionnaire to their next eye exam.

For more information on how to get started with Dry Eye Treatment, call our office at (919)-465-7400.