Red Light Therapy for Dry Eyes and Dry Mouth

Hi @kacey1, I haven't tried red light therapy for dry eyes or mouth but I think there is some evidence that it can help. While you wait for others to respond, here are a few references on your question.

-- Effect of low-level light therapy in patients with dry eye: a prospective, randomized, observer-masked trial:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8897458/
-- How can light therapy help dry eyes?:
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/light-therapy-for-dry-eyes
-- Photobiomodulation Therapy in the Treatment of Salivary Dysfunction:
https://www.jkslms.or.kr/journal/view.html?doi=10.25289/ML.2022.11.1.15
Are you looking at a specific red light therapy product?

I am scheduled to begin these treatments soon. For over two years I've been doing two drops of Restasis a day, Systane Complete twice a day and a heated eye mask twice a day. My dry eyes haven't improved so the light therapy was highly suggested by my eye specialist. Unfortunately, insurance doesn't cover the procedures but thankfully they aren't too outrageously priced and requires 4 required treatments for the first year and only one treatment every year thereafter. I was told it will help to (hopefully) aid the glands to begin to work some but the eye drops will need to continue throughout the rest of my life. Let us know what you decide and your opinion of the procedure.

I’m curious. Where did you have your light therapy? What was the machine? Was it just red light? Thank you. I am curious about your progress as I am considering this for my dry eyes/MGD. Thank you!

Hi, I am scheduled to begin the light therapy in my ophthalmologist office the first week of April. I'm not certain of the machine used as I haven't had it done yet. I will let you know more about it when it starts, if you wish. This is the information I have for it: "Light therapy" for dry eyes typically refers to Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) therapy, a treatment that uses specific wavelengths of light to target and improve the function of the meibomian glands in the eyelids, which are responsible for producing oils that help lubricate the eyes and alleviate dryness symptoms; this treatment is considered particularly effective for dry eye caused by clogged or dysfunctional meibomian glands.
Key points about IPL therapy for dry eyes:

Mechanism:
IPL delivers pulses of light to the skin around the eyes, which can help reduce inflammation, unclog the meibomian glands, and stimulate the production of healthy oils, improving tear quality.

Benefits:
Can significantly alleviate dry eye symptoms like irritation, stinging, and blurred vision.

Hope this helps some. Blessings and have a great day.

This was very informative. Thank you, John.

Thank you. I believe that is intense pulse light therapy. I’m interested in low level light therapy or red light therapy. So you believe you are getting IPL?
Will be curious what you think.
I’m interested in RF and low level light therapy.
Please keep me updated and hope it helps!!
Thank you!

Thank you, John.
I’m curious, is there any way to have a specific, separate dry eye group category? It is difficult to wade through the general eye group as there is AMD, Glaucoma and many others.

@hopeful4, You ask a good question, as it definitely can be difficult to wade through many discussions looking for specific topics in a higher level group. I think the new more specific condition groups are created based on more and more discussions being created for the more specific condition. At least I think that is how the Neuropathy Support Group was formed as it wasn't a support Group when I first joined Connect in 2016 looking for more information to help me after being diagnosed with idiopathic small fiber Neuropathy. I believe the Neuropathy Group came about in 2017.

I'm speaking from my personal experience but I think the great thing about Mayo Clinic Connect is the continual focus on improvement to make it more usable to help patients find answers to their health condition related questions. One of the biggest improvements I have seen in the past few years was when the Connect programmers and tech team made major enhancements to the search function. I'm a little biased due to my tech background but I use the search all of the time to help other members find discussions and topics. Now it's easier than my previous method of using Dr. Google coupled with various search parameters 🙃

The workaround I would try, if you haven't already done it, is to use the search function of Connect for "dry eyes". It pulls all of the discussions related to the different eye conditions together so that you can scan through the discussions, member comments (over different groups and discussions), related newsfeed posts and more. Here's the search results - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/search/?search=dry+eyes,

I'm tagging our Connect Directory @colleenyoung to see if she may have some thoughts on your question.

My eye doc recommended this therapy for my dry eyes after my cataract surgeries. My eyes are driving me crazy. I am thinking of going ahead with it. The cost is around $1300.00. The way my luck has been going, it will not help, and I will be out more money. I would be interested in how well it works if you decide to go ahead with it.

I was on generic Restasis for a while (cyclosporine ophthalmic). It helped for a while and was way less expensive than Restasis. Three one-month supply bottles for about $130.00. It doesn't help any longer, so I am considering the light therapy. Will be interested to know how everyone's experience is.