Blephasteam Goggles for Dry Eye by Spectrum Thea

Most people who suffer from dry eye syndrome, it turns out, suffer from meibomian gland dysfunction. Particularly if you wake up with dry eyes, you almost certainly have meibomian gland dysfunction, because it is the meibum oil produced by these glands that seals your eyelids shut at night and prevents your eye from drying out. The meibum oil is also critical during the day because it adheres your tears to your eye's surface. If your glands are producing insufficient meibum oil during the day, the tears your eye produces will evaporate almost instantly.The meibum glands runs along the edges of your upper and lower eyelids. When they become clogged, they produce little to no meibum oil. A critical part of dry eye management, then is to unclog the meibomian glands and get meibum oil flowing more regularly.Unfortunately, prominent dry treatments like Xiidra and Restasis treat tear production, not meibomian gland dysfunction. Therefore, for lots of people who use one of these prescription treatments (such as me), the prescription drops make very little difference in one's dry eye condition. What one needs is something specifically targeted to meibomian gland dysfunction.Pretty much all of the treatment options for meibomian gland dysfunction focus on heating the upper and lower eyelids. They do this, basically, to melt the clogged meibum waxy oil in one's clogged glands. The goal of melting the trapped meibum oil is to get meibum oil flowing from the glands. Some devices focus on massaging or putting pressure on the glands to express the trapped waxy oil. Most of the options are fairly expensive compared to artificial tears, and most can only be accessed in a doctor's office. None that I have found are covered by any medical insurance.Of the options, Lipiflow is likely the most effective (at least based on the medical research to date), but it is also the most expensive and can only be accessed in a doctor's office. It uses heat and pressure and costs around $1,000 per treatment. MiBoFlo is another doctor-office based treatment, but it uses only heat. It costs, typically, about $500 per treatment. The research to date has not found it to be very effective.At the bottom in terms of cost are microwaveable moist heat eye masks such as the Bruder Moist Heat eye compress ($19) or a wet washcloth heated in a microwave. This type of treatment is inexpensive and is pretty blunt force. Basically, you are heating your entire eyelid and eye to heat the meibomian glands. The treatments are, per the research, moderately effective but leave one with blurred vision and red eyes for a while afterward, and you have to cover your eyes during the treatment.In the middle is the Blephasteam. I bought the Blephasteam four months ago (at the time of this writing) after using Xiidra for nearly two years and trying the heated eye compress for over a month. I have been very pleased with the product. First, unlike most other options, you can own it and use it at home. You can use it every day (and you should). The medical research to date finds it is second in effectiveness after Lipiflow at about half the cost.I have not experienced any kind of miracle turnaround but I have been able to reduce substantially my use of artificial tears (because the tears my eyes produce stay on the eye's surface longer due to more meibum oil on my eye). After I do a 10-minute treatment, I express my lower eyelids with meibomian gland forceps (which are basically tweezer size with round paddle ends rather than typical pointed tweezer ends). I have no idea whether I am successfully expressing my glands when I do this, but my doctor told me that my lower eyelids' glands were almost totally unclogged. And I have not expected a miracle turnaround - meibomian gland dysfunction is, unfortunately, a chronic condition that is managed rather than cured.The Blephasteam I purchased came with a 100-pack of disposable eye rings and a plug adapter so you can plug it into an American electrical outlet (Blephasteam is made in the UK and its plug is a European plug). The adapter works great.All in all, I have been quite pleased with the Blephasteam and have experienced positive results. Even when factoring in the cost of the disposable rings, it is a cost-effective treatment option that you can use at home.

The whole premise of this product was to be able to get relief for dry eyes while being able to have your eyes open (and actually do stuff). While the product heats well and provides steam, I find that I can not keep my eyes open because that leads to having burning eyes for the rest of the day. If anything, this product combined with open eyes during treatment just makes the condition worse.I will try using the Blephasteam with my eyes closed, but I must say that means most of the value is gone as I could just as well use the trusty old heating eye mask.

Too expensive not sure if it’s working but it makes me feel better when I’m using it if my eyes are extremely dry. I don’t use it as often. The 100 rings for it shouldn’t be $60 that’s way too much money for plastic pieces! Isn’t spending $600 for this machine that we’re taking a gamble on enough ?? Just saying. Not happy about that at all...

Suffered from severe dry eye for 15 years. Always looking for help. Don’t buy this product! You can get better heat treatment from eye mask you put in microwave. When I tried to return because one of eye lenses didn’t work they refused.

These goggles take 15 minutes to warm up, then 10 minutes to wear after inserting the dampened eye rings as instructed. I then use a sterile water-wet cotton Qtip to lightly scrape off any extruded material from my eyelids. Daily use has been extremely effective in controlling dry eye symptoms caused by plugging of Meibomian glands. I bought the goggles in England 16 months ago and found them very convenient to use, especially when traveling. I still need to visit the eye doctor periodically but with less frequency and with fewer complications than before using the Blephasteam treatments.

Most of my meibomian glands are obstructed, the Blephasteam mask helps to melt the meibum and reduce my dry eye symptoms. I'm able to wear contact lenses much longer than before. Best results with continual use.