Blepharitis Treatment & Management
Eyelid Care is Key to Treating & Preventing Blepharitis
The importance of skin care is drilled into us at an early age. We’re barraged with advertisements for facial cleansers, body wash, soaps, lotions, moisturisers, astringents, toners and more. There’s plenty on information of how to care for your skin. But has anyone ever told you how to care for your eyelids? A condition called blepharitis shines a light on the importance of eyelid hygiene and care.
What’s Blepharitis?
Blepharitis is a very irritating, but very common and treatable condition affecting the eyelid margin. This condition can often appear alongside conjunctivitis. It’s also sometimes associated with other skin conditions like ocular rosacea, psoriasis, and seborrheic dermatitis. Blepharitis isn’t typically contagious and most likely won’t cause any permanent damage to your eyes or vision.
Like conjunctivitis, this infection can be caused by a variety of different factors. Parasites and fungal eyelid infections can cause blepharitis, but most often, it’s caused by too much of the bacteria that appears naturally at the base of your eyelashes.
When these bacteria build up over a long period of time, it creates something called a biofilm. Similar to the plaque that develops on teeth, the biofilm can become toxic. As this biofilm continues to grow, it becomes food for parasitic mites and can clog the oil glands your eye needs to help produce tears.
- Dry eyes
- Burning or stinging
- Foreign body sensation
- Grittiness
- Itchy or irritated eyelids
- Contact lens discomfort
- Loss of eyelashes
- Inflammation
How Does Blepharitis Relate to Dry Eye?
Dry eye typically occurs for one of two reasons. The first is that the body isn’t creating enough tears. The second is that the tears don’t have enough meibum, or oil in them to keep them from evaporating right away.
When a biofilm develops on your eyelid, causing blepharitis, it can clog the meibomian glands which are responsible for producing the meibum your tears need. If the glands can’t produce enough meibum to keep your tears from evaporating right away, your eyes become chronically dry and irritated.
BlephEx Treats and Prevents Blepharitis
You shouldn’t have to live with the discomfort of blepharitis and dry eye. That’s why we’re proud to offer BlephEx treatments; a simple and effective process to help treat blepharitis.
Click here to read more about Blephex
The I-PEN® Tear Osmolarity System
This small device detects and indirectly measures the quality and amount of natural tears for a quick and easy diagnosis of mild, moderate, and severe dry eye disease. Get reproducible, accurate, and reliable results in less than 5 seconds per eye with single-use sensors. This cutting edge ocular technology gives Shaughnessy Optometry a diagnostic advantage for successful dry eye management and treatment.
How Does BlephEx Work?
Our handheld BlephEx tool features a tiny spinning micro sponge. We’ll gently apply this micro sponge to your eyelid margins and lash lines; effectively removing the biofilm and any bacteria and parasites hiding in it, and clearing out the meibomian glands; allowing your eyes to produce good quality tears again!
BlephEx is a lot like brushing your teeth; if you have it done regularly, you’ll probably never encounter blepharitis or other similar conditions! We recommend having BlephEx treatment monthly to keep your eyelids healthy and biofilm free!
Visit Our Shaughnessy Location
We’re located on Oak Street, just across the street from Emily Carr Public School and beside the Easter Seal house. Stop in, take a look around our office, and say hello; we’d love to meet you. Our patients have access to free street-level parking in our parking lot adjacent to the Royal Bank.
Address
3955 Oak Street
Vancouver BC, V6H 2M7
604.677.4100
Hours
Monday: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Wednesday: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Thursday: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Sunday: Closed
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