TREATING DRY EYE DISEASE OPENS A CHANNEL FOR AESTHETICS

HAVE YOU considered using dry eye disease (DED) care as a portal to offering aesthetic services? Imagine, for a moment, treating a patient’s DED while also making his or her skin clearer, firmer and more uniform in color.

Some of you may say, “Pump the breaks! It’s all fine and good to treat the whole body when fighting systemic disease, but fighting aging is for someone else to worry about. After all, aesthetic treatments are merely a frivolous concession to vanity.” “Frivolous” may be in the eye of the beholder; consider the following.

DEMAND EXISTS

A total of 1.8 million cosmetic procedures (surgical and minimally invasive) were performed in the United States in 2016, reports the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Perhaps more notable, 15.5 million of those procedures were minimally invasive.

Also, growth in the aesthetics market since 2000 has led to a 115% increase in procedure volume.

THE CONNECTION

Similar to aesthetics, DED care is seeing significant growth with the aging of baby boomers and digital device devotees multiplying. Specifically, 79% of adults with DED symptoms say they are more aware of “feeling their eyes” after viewing a screen, and 59% note using a screen is challenging because of their DED, reveals Shire’s National Eye C.A.R.E. Survey.

Many of these patients will also have an interest in looking their best, as high importance is placed on physical appearance. Keep in mind that ocular redness is a symptom of DED, and a study in the April 2011 Ethology reveals that those who have bloodshot eyes are considered by those who view them as sadder, unhealthier and less attractive than those whose scleras are white.

Something else to think about: Past aesthetic treatments are now being used to therapeutically treat DED. Intense pulse light (IPL), for example, was designed to treat rosacea, broken blood vessels and age spots. Those patients who had concurrent DED and underwent IPL, began reporting symptomatic relief.

Subsequent studies support these anecdotal and clinical findings. The average cost of an IPL treatment ranges from $300 to $600. Often, patients undergo a series of treatments, bringing the total expected cost to between $1,200 to $2,400.

Similarly, periorbital radio -frequency, approved as a wrinkle treatment, has been shown to provide DED relief. Specifically, patients had improvement in both DED symptoms (measured by Ocular Surface Disease Index and SPEED surveys) as well as wrinkle relief after a series of treatments with radio frequency (Radiofrequency, Thermi), reports a pilot study completed at the Southern College of Optometry in 2016.

COMPLEMENTARY CARE

Consider providing patients with both DED treatment and aesthetic products. Beauty isn’t merely skin deep when it provides relief to patients. OM

DR. HAUSER provides clinical care for patients at TearWell: Advance Dry Eye Treatment Center and the Advanced Care and The Eye Center at Southern College of Optometry. She is a consultant, speaker or board member for: Akorn, Alcon, Allergan, BioTeck, BioTissue, Lumenis, NovaBay, Paragon Vision Sciences, Rysurg, TearLab, TearScience, Shire, Science Based Health and DryEyeCoach.com .