What Is the OptiLight by Lumenis & How Can It Manage Your Dry Eye?

OptiLight

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.

Infinity Eye Care understands the discomfort dry eye can cause, which is why we’ve made it a priority to invest in leading treatments with proven results. Our goal is to help you find solutions suitable for your needs and lifestyle, and we support this with our library of treatments ranging from topical medications to in-office procedures.

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

There are several issues that may lead to dry eye symptoms, and it’s our mission as a Dry Eye Center of Excellence to detect, diagnose, and treat these issues and provide comfort for your vision.

We start every dry eye disease treatment with a thorough dry eye exam looking at the various structures responsible for your eye comfort. To help, we may use technologies and techniques like:

  • Eyelid meibography
  • Non-invasive keratograph imaging
  • Tear break-up time and tear film analysis
  • External imaging of the ocular surface

These tests are to help us determine if OptiLight treatment is suitable for your needs. Once we find that you’re a candidate, we’ll set up a day to perform your treatment.

On the day of your treatment, please come in with a clean face with no makeup or moisturizer and we’ll prep you for your treatment!

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.

After Your Treatment

OptiLight has virtually no down time, meaning you can possibly head straight back to your day immediately after your appointment!

We’ll ask you to wear sunblock or avoid sun exposure (including tanning beds) for the entire duration of your treatment. You may experience some pinkness to treated areas of your skin, but this should resolve in about 30 minutes. In rare cases, you might experience mild discomfort, change of pigmentation, scarring, excessive edema, fragile skin, bruising, burns, pruritus, and xerosis.

IPL therapy is also commonly used to help treat signs of aging on your skin! Some people may experience reduced skin wrinkles or even the appearance of bags under your eyes.

Part of Your Custom Treatment Plan

A course of treatment typically includes 4 sessions spaced 2–4 weeks apart. 

Part of our commitment to providing you relief from dry eye symptoms is also offering other solutions if they’re appropriate for your needs. We offer a range of products and treatments, including:

  • Medications
  • Specialty contact lenses
  • Autologous serum tears
  • Amniotic membranes
  • Punctal plugs
  • BlephEx
  • iLux
  • Omega 3 and 6 supplements
  • Warm moist heating eye masks 
  • Eyelid cleansers and moisturizers

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.