LLLT and IPL

If you have DRY EYES due to your oil glands misbehaving, there are many ways to address the problem. Simple lubricating drops do not help much because they don’t address the fact that your tears are evaporating too quickly from your eyes.

If you’re reading this, you may have already tried some different methods to reduce your dry eye symptoms but you feel there is still room for improvement.

The methods we have available to us before trying LLLT include any or all of these:

  • Heat treatment with or without expression at ICU Optometry

  • Daily at-home heat application for at least 1 month

  • Oral omega 3 supplementation (we recommend and supply Lacritec)

  • Nova-Tears eye drops 4 x daily

  • Keeping your lids free of Demodex mites

  • Blinking exercises

  • Tears Again spray

LLLT

LLLT (Low Level Light Therapy) is along the lines of heat therapy, in that it gets your own natural oils flowing better, but at the same time as delivering heat, it delivers near-infrared LED light for around 15 minutes. This technology has been used in dermatology for many years, and since 2023 it’s been available for optometry and ophthalmology.

IPL

IPL (Intense Pulsed Light Therapy) is similar to LLLT, but rather than delivering heat, it delivers intense light. This technology was developed in 1992 and has been used in dermatology (for example in getting rid of “spider veins”) for many years, and since the early 2000s it’s been available for optometry and ophthalmology.

IPL delivers fast pulses of high-intensity light to the skin. Through mechanisms that are still being investigated at the molecular level, this has been shown to improve the structure of the oil glands and to decrease inflammation.