If your eyes constantly feel dry, irritated, or tired – your blinking muscles might be the hidden culprit. As we age, the muscles under our eyes weaken, leading to poor blinking, lower eyelid laxity, and reduced tear coverage.
OptiLIFT® by Lumenis is a revolutionary, non-surgical treatment that helps restore healthy blinking by gently stimulating and toning the muscles around your eyes. The result? More comfort, better moisture retention, and a noticeable improvement in dry eye symptoms.
- Stimulate muscle: Allows a stronger, more complete blink
- More complete blinks, better tear spread
- Better tear spread, less dryness and better comfort
- Tighten the lower eyelids
What is lid laxity?
Many patients suffer with dry eye due to the lower eyelid not being tight enough (laxity). With Optilift we can treat this problem.
Our eyelids play a crucial role in maintaining a stable and healthy ocular surface. They are essential to maintaining the tear lake and dispersing meibum to seal the watery layer of the tear film. Without sufficient lid tone to reset and maintain the tear lake with each blink, patients experience symptoms related to the breakdown of the ocular surface.
Lower lid laxity is highly prevalent, affecting 78.3% of patients who visit ophthalmology clinics for eyelid-related concerns.
- It’s often associated with aging, as we naturally lose 3-8% of our skeletal muscle mass each decade after age 30.
- This muscle loss increases our vulnerability to gravitational descent and laxity of the lower eyelids as our supports begin to fail. Lid laxity can also be hereditary, so I have encountered younger patients who could also benefit from improved eyelid muscle tone.
When lids lose tension, incomplete blinking can occur, which has been closely associated with dry eye disease symptoms, decreased tear breakup time, meibomian gland dropout, and reduced expressibility. - In fact, more than 60% of dry eye patients struggle with impaired lid closure.
- Eyelid muscles are under constant stress from nonstop blinking throughout life. It makes sense that the muscle tissue starts to gradually degrade over time, and the only way to regain that tone is through treatment.
Optilift has two functions
DMST:
OptiLIFT’s DMSt technology works by activating the periorbital muscles with gentle electrical impulses to create muscle tone and restore eyelid tightness. It engages the muscles and their networks at their points of origin, increasing their resting tone and supporting the natural structure of the eyelids.
Instead of building bulky, bodybuilder-like muscles, the goal is to tone and strengthen, resulting in a naturally firm muscle at a newly fit baseline. This eyelid “workout” provides long-lasting improvement in tone and tightness without the need for surgery.
OptiLIFT treatment protocol includes four sessions, with a one or two-week interval between them. The treatment involves using a back-and-forth motion with the tip of the handpiece along the inferior orbital rim below the lower eyelids for 14 minutes, seven minutes per side.
Radio-Frequency:
Optical RF—which delivers heat to targeted tissue layers—increases the regeneration and rejuvenation of meibomian glands, improving meibum expression and overall eyelid health. The treatment warms old, stale meibum within the glands, facilitating its natural flow while also promoting collagen production which will tighten the loose eyelid tissue and reduce fine lines, which is enough for most to avoid surgery!
Together, these technologies improve the overall dry eyes.
It’s a must for those with impaired blinking from screen times to improve tear break up and possibly reduce eye bags! It is best combined with Optilight IPL and other dry eye treatments but be undertaken on its own
We are the first practice in UK to have this treatment.
FAQs
How many sessions do I need?
You need 4 sessions, which can be spaced 1-2 weeks apart
How long before I see results?
Typically can vary but most will feel better after the first session
Any side effects of treatment?
Bit of redness at most but may include any of the following: prolonged or significant pain, damage to natural skin texture (blister, burn), excessive skin redness (erythema), excessive swelling (edema), fragile skin bruising, excessive itching, change of pigmentation (hyper-pigmentation or hypopigmentation), scarring transient skin break-out such as acne and pimples..
It is contraindicated for patients with pacemakers, defibrillators, any implanted electronic device, or metal implanted in the treatment area.
Wil I need more treatment in the future?
Top up sessions are typically 3-6 months as one off or annually you would with 4 sessions again.
