What is IPL Treatment?
The difficulty with most dry eye treatments is they have to be continued each day to stop the symptoms returning.
Intense pulsed light (IPL) is a revolutionary new treatment for dry eye disease (in particular meibomian gland dysfunction) that is painless and long-lasting. At Bay Eye Care we use a IPL device specially designed in France for treating dry eye. Treatment involves the application of an intense pulsed light to the skin around the eye. The treatment stimulates the glands in the eyelids to improve their secretions, improving your dry eye disease.
Originally IPL was discovered to help dry eye because people using IPL for skin issues were noticing an improvement in their eye irritation and dryness.
A study from The University of Auckland using the same IPL device that we have at Bay Eye Care showed that after only two treatments 86% of patients had noticed significant improvement in their symptoms.
The newest IPL study out of The University of Auckland in 2020 showed that the 5-flash protocol that we now use at Bay Eye Care had a quicker improvement in signs and symptoms than conventional treatment protocols. Read more about this study here.
A recent Canadian study also showed that IPL was a safe and effective treatment for patients with evaporative dry eye. Patients that underwent IPL therapy had significant improvements in symptoms and signs of dry eye following the treatment.
What is involved with IPL treatment?
Initially a thorough dry eye assessment is required to characterise your dry eye, take baseline measurements and confirm you will benefit from IPL therapy. More information about the types of dry eye can be found here. 3 treatments sessions are required over a 6 week period.
Typically people treated with IPL find sustained improvement in their dry eye for over 6 months. Most patients do require re-treatment however when their symptoms return to a bothersome level.
IPL + Low Level Light Combination Treatment
For those patients with moderate to severe signs or symptoms of meibomian gland dysfunction, your optometrist may recommend combining the two light based treatments we have available, LLLT and IPL, for maximal clinical effect. Studies support the safety and effectiveness of this combination treatment. These treatments target different aspects of the disease process (LLLT works to increase cellular metabolism and create heat which softens meibomian gland oils, whereas IPL targets the inflammatory processes and abnormal blood vessels in the skin which affect the meibomian glands).
More information about the costs of IPL therapy can be found on our Bay Eye Care Fee Structure page. Our detailed IPL for dry eye information sheet can also be downloaded here.