The development of the infrared radiation eye warming instrument to the eyelid

Purpose. It is said that a warm compress for the eye improves the blood flow to the eyelid and melts the lipid of the meibomian glands. Yet, there are no warm compress methods that could increase the temperature of the eyelid certainly, safely and constantly. We developed a portable eye warming instrument using infrared radiation and evaluated its effect to the eyelid. Methods. The instrument had 19 LED using 940 nm infrared radiation and it had about 15 mW of energy per square centimeter (cm2). Ten normal subjects had their eyes warmed with the instrument for 5, 10 and 30 minutes and the temperature of the cornea, upper and lower lids were measured continuously. Results. The temperature of the eyelid increased up to between 36CC and 39C, approximately 4 degrees up on normal temperature after 30 minutes of warming. Since infrared radiation only penetrated 5 mm of the tissue, the effect to the eye ball itself was so limited that the temperature of the cornea increased only 2°C after 30 minutes of warming. The temperature increased rapidly among first 5 minutes and never elevated beyond 40'C in every points. Conclusions. This instrument increased the temperature of the eyelid safely and constantly. This method might be an effective treatment for the dry eye with meibomian gland dysfunction by melting lipid. None.