Lynbrook Ophthalmic Center First with 'Dry Eye' Treatment

Ophthalmic Consultants of Long Island (OCLI), a full service eye care center with offices in Lynbrook, last week announced that it is the first in Nassau County to introduce a new treatment for patients who suffer from evaporative dry eye disease.

Dry eye disease is the most common reason why patients visit their eye doctor, according to a release from OCLI. This disease often stems from a deficiency or degeneration in the oil layer of the eye's natural tear film. The oily lipids serve as a protective layer so that the aqueous (water) layer of the eye's tear film does not evaporate.

While the screening for dry eye can be done at any of their nine locations throughout Long Island, the Lynbrook office is the only one to offer the treatment in Nassau County.

OCLI has introduced a new, advanced in-office treatment, called LipiFlow, which treats patients with blocked oil glands in their eyelids, called meibomian gland dysfunction. Unblocking the oil glands helps restore a healthy tear film.

Dry eye disease affects more than 100 million people worldwide. Of those, 65 percent suffer from Evaporative Dry Eye.

Common symptoms of dry eye include dryness, grittiness, soreness, irritation, burning, visual fluctuation and eye fatigue. These symptoms can hinder people's daily activities such as reading, driving, using the computer, wearing contact lenses and being outdoors on windy days. Many dry eye patients complain their symptoms worsen throughout the day.

“We are very pleased to introduce the new LipiFlow treatment to help those patients who are very frustrated with this chronic disease and all of the ways it negatively impacts their lives," said Dr. Eric Donnenfeld, a founding partner of OCLI. "In effect, LipiFlow helps the meibomian glands resume their natural function and many patients who have tried everything else have received symptom relief."

Historically, common therapies aimed at dry eye symptom relief included using warm compresses, over-the-counter wetting drops and ointments, and prescription drugs. Alternatively, the new LipiFlow treatment addresses the root cause of evaporative dry eye by unblocking the meibomian glands that secrete oily lipids.

In controlled clinical studies of patients who received a single LipiFlow treatment, the average meibomian gland score at four weeks increased by two to three times over the baseline condition, which reflects improvement in the number of glands secreting and secretion quality. Additionally, at four weeks after the LipiFlow treatment, 79 percent of patients reported improvement in dry eye symptoms.