I've struggled with dry eyes for years, and the prolonged stress has caused my superficial blood vessels to become permanently enlarged. I've been diagnosed with dry eye disease (DED), meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD), and blepharitis, but I haven't responded well to treatment from my regular doctor. I'm interested in the cauterization procedure. When's the earliest I could have a consultation?
A: I want to make sure I explain this fully, because the blood vessel issue is only part of the picture.
In my experience treating about 100 patients with this kind of enlarged blood vessel pattern, every single one of them had dry eye disease and MGD that caused the blood vessels to become that way in the first place. And every one of them had been incompletely or improperly treated by their local eye doctor, whether an OD or an MD, before coming to me.
That matters because cautery alone won’t give you a lasting result. To make the procedure successful and keep the blood vessels from coming back, I need to properly treat your underlying dry eye disease and MGD as part of the process, not just cauterize the vessels themselves.
Please call my office to schedule a remote second opinion. I handle these calls personally rather than having staff reach out, because I’m currently the only eye surgeon in the United States performing this specific procedure.
— Dr. Chynn
