Kimberley Young
25 April 2025
BiB Ophthalmic Instruments introduced a device for delivering intense pulsed light treatments for dry eye patients at 100% Optical (1–3 March).
The Thermaeye Plus IPL device has a range of filters depending on the treatment required and skin type of the patient, and also uses a water-cooling system.
Tim Baker, managing director of BiB Ophthalmic Instruments, suggested that many devices on the market use air cooling, whereas: “Water-cooling is more forgiving on the dermis and a little bit more comfortable for the patient.”
Optometrist, Michelle Beach, founder of Park Vision in Nottingham, joined the stand at 100% Optical to share her experiences as one of the first practices to adopt the Thermaeye. She told OT: “I’ve been successfully using it since July and getting really good results.”
Beach shared: “The thing about the Thermaeye that I liked so much was that you have control over the filter that you use and the cooling system. Depending on what you are trying to do, for certain skin conditions you want to heat the skin but you don’t want to burn the patient or make them uncomfortable and so you cool it back down again. You can go up and down in the energy you are using and the device gives you a guide.”
The Themaeye includes a new filter which can be used to target small areas.
Beach explained: “If you have a chalazion on the upper lid, you would use anaesthetic and put a corneal shield in, and then you can treat it directly. You would struggle to treat an upper lid chalazion with a larger area, so these [filters] are very specific.”
Talking through the features of the device and how it is operated, Beach also shared before-and-after images of a patient’s lipid layers following a course of Thermaeye treatment.
“Dry eye is exponential now," Beach suggested, explaining that while in the past it may have been seen more amongst menopausal female patients, dry eye sufferers can include anyone on certain medications or experiencing inflammation.
“You can give drops and heat masks, but these are all at home and patients don’t use them, and this is taking your dry eye clinic to the next level,” she said of the IPL device.
Beach said: “I have people coming from about four different counties who have Googled IPL and are coming in expecting treatment. Optometrists are doing more and more now – we're specialising a lot more in clinical care and this is something we can do. It is safe and easy to do.”
Discussing the response to the device at 100% Optical, Baker told OT: “IPL has been one of the most popular attractions at the show.”
There are two factors to this, he suggested: “It is treating what was pretty much an incurable, debilitating disease – dry eye – and so it’s changing people’s lives and improving patient outcomes. At the same time, it is bringing arguably one of the biggest returns on investment for practitioners at the show.”
Educating the patient
Michelle shared how she might explain the benefits of IPL to a dry eye patient. This starts with exploring the reasons behind the issue: “I have a big dry eye diagnostic system so if a patient comes in with dry eye, I will show them their meibomian glands, tear film, and we’d have a look at staining.”
Beach describes the layers of the tear film and that: “The oily layer, which I call their WD40 – the comfort layer at the front – the meibomian glands aren’t working properly and basically we need to give them an energy boost and restart them.”
Providing videos of the meibomian glands and tear film can aid the explanation for patients.
Beach added: “Most have been suffering for ages. They are chronic sufferers, and they understand.”
