© Provided by South Bend-Elkhart WNDU-TV Phyllis Spielman has been battling dry-eye for most of her life, but thanks to a new light-based therapy she no longer has to worry about over-the-counter drops or compression techniques.

(WNDU) – About 16 million adults in the U.S. are living with dry eyes. While over-the-counter drops can provide temporary help, a treatment used to treat the skin condition rosacea is giving patients long-term relief.

Phyllis Spielman is always up for a new challenge. But battling dry eye was not a challenge she was expecting.

“The worst thing you can have is to have itching and burning because it is a distraction. You could cause an accident,” Spielman said.

When the eye drops and compressions didn’t work as Spielman hoped they would, she turned to her doctor for help.

“You give somebody some artificial tears and say, just lubricate your eye and you’ll be fine, but this is an inflammatory disease,” Rolando Toyos, Founder & CEO of Toyos Clinic, said.

And it’s the inflammation in the meibomian eye glands that causes insufficient tears to be produced. Dr. Toyos suggested the Optilight treatment. It’s a light-based treatment given in four sessions at 2 to 4 weeks apart.

Patients can begin to feel relief right away. For Spielman the treatment was a win in her book.

“It was really painless. It was quick. There wasn’t any downtime. You wouldn’t even know that I had the treatment,” Spielman said.

Dr. Toyos says this is the first and only FDA approved light treatment for managing dry eye disease.

Copyright 2022 WNDU. All rights reserved.