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New in-office blepharitis treatment available
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LAS VEGAS – Here at Vision Expo West, RySurg introduced BlephEx, an instrument used in the eye care practitioner’s office for treating blepharitis.
“Patients can’t treat themselves for blepharitis,” RySurg chairman and chief executive officer, James Rynerson, MD, told Primary Care Optometry News. “They can’t get down to the biofilm with lid scrubs.”
Rynerson said the lid margin accumulates bacteria and debris that is difficult for the patient to wash away and causes blepharitis. BlephEx is a handheld device that the eye care practitioner or a trained technician administers in-office.
An anesthetic drop is applied to the patient’s eye, and the disposable tip of the BlephEx instrument is soaked in the doctor’s choice of lid scrub solution. Then the instrument is applied to the lid margin, with the soft, disposable tip spinning to remove debris and bacteria.
Rynerson said patients will need to return for treatments three times a year, comparing it to getting your teeth cleaned.
In between visits patients can maintain their lid hygiene with scrubs.
The procedure is currently not covered by insurance, Rynerson said. Seven hundred doctors worldwide are using it, as well as seven teaching institutions. —Nancy Hemphill, ELS