TearCare
The most common cause of dry eye is congestion, damage or clogging of the meibomian glands – the oil glands that run in our top and bottom eyelids that secrete tear film every time we blink to keep our eyes clear and comfortable. Everything from computer use, air conditioning and fans, common medications, makeup, and skin creams can cause the glands to get blocked or damaged. How do we unblock the glands and restore the flow of your own natural tears?
TearCare is an in-office treatment that applies targeted heat to the meibomian glands to melt away any blockages and restore gland function.
The procedure takes about 15 minutes to complete and is followed by the doctor manually expressing the glands to ensure flow is restored.
Unlike other heat-based treatments for dry eye on the market, there is no bulky or uncomfortable device inserted into your eyes – you can keep your eyes open and blink naturally during the entire procedure. TearCare treatments can be performed on any skin type or color, making it safe and effective for any adult patient.
If you have been doing at home warm compresses to treat your meibomian gland dysfunction and have found minimal benefit to your dry eye symptoms, you are not alone. A 2018 study of patients with meibomian gland dysfunction found that just one TearCare in office treatment had significantly greater benefit than daily warm compress massages. After just a single TearCare treatment, patients who underwent TearCare had a greater than 5 x improvement in their dryness scores (calculated via industry standard tear break up time evaluation) 1 month after treatment, compared to patients using daily hot compress massages who actually had a slight decline in their dryness scores in that 1 month time period! Benefits from the TearCare treatment compared to at home daily warm compress massage lasted as long as 6 months after just a single in-office treatment.
Schedule a consultation to learn more about TearCare with Dr. Brandon Weyand at our Morrisville location!
