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20/20 Dry Eye Spa has helped many young adults see better. Here are a few success stories.
Kayvon’s Story
PATIENT:
Kayvon, a 22 year old Black/Asian female, was diagnosed with keratoconus by another doctor and was referred to 20/20 Dry Eye Spa for a second opinion.
PROBLEM:
The patient had difficulty studying and was not seeing clearly. Kayvon presented with blurry vision, red eyes, and could not see with contacts or glasses. Testing showed extremely dry eyes, so she was unable to finalize the Rx for glasses.
After examining Kayvon, we determined that she had multiple issues going on with her eyes. Not only did she have an eye infection on and off for about 4 weeks with irritated and red eyes, but her dryness was so severe that her glasses prescription was unreliable. Her tear film was unstable, and the front surface of her eyes was as if you took sandpaper and scraped it across the surface of her cornea multiple times. She had hundreds of dry patch zones, which caused her to have an eye infection that would not heal up. She was put on antibiotics by her previous doctor to help fight the eye infection. Unfortunately, this did not resolve the problem. She was fit with a “bandage” contact lens to help heal the dry cornea, but the eyes were still dry.
Kayvon’s best corrected vision was 20/40 to 20/50. Her acuity had dropped over 3-4 lines from the 20/20 optimum level of vision due to dryness.
RESULTS/SOLUTIONS:
The patient was treated during the pandemic and SIP lockdown.
It was almost one month for the cornea to heal up before any dry eye treatment could be performed due to the fact that her risk of infection was so high the cornea needed to be intact before the dry eye treatment could be successful.
Because the normal protocol with dry eyes and medication was not effective enough to heal her eyes, she was offered Miboflo at the 20/20 Dry Eye Spa. Without this treatment, her eyes would not have healed.
Kayvon is still doing online studying, so this triggers more dry eye symptoms. If her maintenance drops off, her acuities drop off too. In order to keep her vision stable, she has to perform daily maintenance.
Her vision returned to normal, but it took over 2 months. She is now able to see 20/20 again. She also does not have keratoconus. She does have chronic dryness, so she has to receive ongoing treatments and needs daily maintenance at home.
She still visits the 20/20 Dry Eye Spa, so we can monitor her regularly and evaluate her progress.
Surti’s Story
PATIENT:
Surti, a 19 year old Indian female, is a college student whose vision was fluctuating when studying. She was asymptomatic and wore contacts full-time for the last 9 years.
PROBLEM:
Prior to leaving for her freshman year at UCLA, Surti had an eye exam and expressed concern about dryness and the upcoming workload as a computer science major. Her Lipiscan showed 50-60% gland loss in each eye, and she had severe MGD at age 19. She had zero awareness!
She was treated with Miboflo immediately to prevent further gland loss before she left for college. After completing her treatment, she reported her eyes were watering more, and she became more aware of her dry eye symptoms. Her dry eye was so severe that she lost sensitivity.
During her first semester of college, she did well and had minimal dryness. Unfortunately, she had little time to do maintenance. Being a computer science major means that she had extensive studying and computer work which resulted in the lack of blinking and increased her dry eye symptoms.
With COVID in 2020, and distance learning taking place, the hours of digital learning increased significantly. By the afternoon and evenings, she reported pain wearing her contacts lenses and sensitivity to light. She could not wear contacts as long as before and noticed dryness daily. She was taking more breaks and felt the need to use more eye drops.
RESULTS/SOLUTIONS:
Once Surti was able to return home during the pandemic, Lipiflow was recommended. Since she has limited time for maintenance, this seemed like a good option. She responded well to this treatment.
She was happy to wear her contacts 12+ hours without much dryness and minimal fluctuation of vision. Her post-Lipiflow care involved lid cleaning. This type of maintenance was much easier.
During the winter break, the patient visited 20/20 Dry Eye Spa for a mid-year Miboflo treatment to help with maintenance. In addition, she was able to continue with online summer school. Before going back to school the following year, she repeated the Lipiflow treatment.
With the help of treatments and a manageable maintenance plan, we are happy to report that Surti has not suffered from any more gland loss.
20/20 Dry Eye Spa Can Help.
Call 408-433-0800 to find out how you can see better.