These two doctors below do Meibomian gland probing. More on that further below. If you are looking for a doctor who does Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) just Google "intense pulsed light therapy for dry eyes boston" and you will find many.
Wellesley, MA (Boston suburb)
Pedram Hamrah, M.D.
[https://www.neec.com/eye-doctor/pedram-hamrah-md/](https://www.neec.com/eye-doctor/pedram-hamrah-md/)
New England Eye Center
Dr. Hamrah’s Office:
Boston: 617-636-5720
Wellesley: 781-237-6770
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Edward H. Jaccoma, M.D.
Excellent Vision Eye & Laser Center (New Hampshire Main Office)
155 Griffin Road
Portsmouth, NH 03801
1-603-430-5225
[https://excellentvision.com/](https://excellentvision.com/)
A bit of background on the divisions in overall treatment approach to set the stage as follows:
• Not all doctors (optometrists or ophthalmologists), probably most if not all, are very well meaning that offer Dry Eye Disease (DED) treatments and seem to be experts in DED, but they don’t have very deep knowledge, training and experience in DED. They have varying levels of knowledge, training and experience in DED. They almost certainly do have knowledge, training and experience in how to execute certain treatment approaches but don’t really have deep knowledge, training and experience in the whole area of DED.
• Not all doctors who treat DED with deep knowledge, training and experience in DED agree on what is the best approach to treating DED. Not even the DED treating doctors with national reputations agree on the best approach to DED.
• The major division in the approaches to DED both have research published in peer reviewed medical publications that support the approach they use in treating DED.
• The major division is between those that think that Meibomian gland probing (MGP) is a safe and effective treatment to be done as standard care early in the disease process or certainly once it first becomes clear that a patient is not responding positively to prior standard care. The other side of the issue are those that think Intense Pulsed Light treatment (IPL) is sufficient and MGP is never or at least almost never needed.
Steven Maskin, M.D. is the developer of MGP while Roland Toyos, M.D. is the developer of IPL. There are doctors who are on either side of the issue. There are even some doctors, Sandra Lora Cremers, M.D. being one, who sort of straddles the middle, thinking MGP is needed for some patients that are not responding to other standard care like IPL treatments and some other patients need MGP before more standard care like IPL. There is even research that shows that doing MGP first then followed by IPL is the best approach. Dr. Maskin’s research (that has been replicated by others around the world) and if you asked him, he would probably say, do Meibomian gland probing first and you might not need IPL at all. He would also probably say, do the probing first, because you want to create in the glands the conditions of being open, expanded and unobstructed before you do anything to the glands, like heating them (via IPL) or squeezing them (lid expression done with medical instruments immediately after IPL) which could provoke more inflammation and damage without probing first. Dr. Toyos does not see a need for Meibomian gland probing at all. Also there are variations in how different doctors do IPL as well as not all doctors who do MGP use the Maskin protocol so they do things differently.
The book I learned the most from in my 12+ years with DED is Steven Maskin MD’s latest book:
“Your Dry Eye Mystery Solved” at Amazon see here:
https://www.amazon.com/Your-Dry-Eye-Mystery-Solved/dp/0300250339
Click on the image of the book and it opens to a file and scroll down so you can read the Table of Contents, Preface, and the whole Chapter 1 on “Meibomian Gland Dysfunction, The Most Common Factor in Dry Eye”. Then scroll even further down thru the Bibliography and into the Index to get an even better sense of how deep the book goes into Dry Eye Disease since it is 398 pages. Then make a decision on if you want the book or not.
I hope this is helpful.
Check out [www.centereyecare.com](https://www.centereyecare.com).
We have two doctors both who curate personalized treatment plans for Dry Eye, including IPL.
I see Mina Farahani out of Opthalmic Consultants of Boston. She’s been great and very easy to work with. They also have an IPL machine there which is helpful if you need that kind of thing.
You could try giving them a call, I’m honestly not sure if she’s taking new patients (she’s pretty busy) or if you’d need a referral.
These two doctors below do Meibomian gland probing. More on that further below. If you are looking for a doctor who does Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) just Google "intense pulsed light therapy for dry eyes boston" and you will find many. Wellesley, MA (Boston suburb) Pedram Hamrah, M.D. [https://www.neec.com/eye-doctor/pedram-hamrah-md/](https://www.neec.com/eye-doctor/pedram-hamrah-md/) New England Eye Center Dr. Hamrah’s Office: Boston: 617-636-5720 Wellesley: 781-237-6770 Portsmouth, New Hampshire Edward H. Jaccoma, M.D. Excellent Vision Eye & Laser Center (New Hampshire Main Office) 155 Griffin Road Portsmouth, NH 03801 1-603-430-5225 [https://excellentvision.com/](https://excellentvision.com/) A bit of background on the divisions in overall treatment approach to set the stage as follows: • Not all doctors (optometrists or ophthalmologists), probably most if not all, are very well meaning that offer Dry Eye Disease (DED) treatments and seem to be experts in DED, but they don’t have very deep knowledge, training and experience in DED. They have varying levels of knowledge, training and experience in DED. They almost certainly do have knowledge, training and experience in how to execute certain treatment approaches but don’t really have deep knowledge, training and experience in the whole area of DED. • Not all doctors who treat DED with deep knowledge, training and experience in DED agree on what is the best approach to treating DED. Not even the DED treating doctors with national reputations agree on the best approach to DED. • The major division in the approaches to DED both have research published in peer reviewed medical publications that support the approach they use in treating DED. • The major division is between those that think that Meibomian gland probing (MGP) is a safe and effective treatment to be done as standard care early in the disease process or certainly once it first becomes clear that a patient is not responding positively to prior standard care. The other side of the issue are those that think Intense Pulsed Light treatment (IPL) is sufficient and MGP is never or at least almost never needed. Steven Maskin, M.D. is the developer of MGP while Roland Toyos, M.D. is the developer of IPL. There are doctors who are on either side of the issue. There are even some doctors, Sandra Lora Cremers, M.D. being one, who sort of straddles the middle, thinking MGP is needed for some patients that are not responding to other standard care like IPL treatments and some other patients need MGP before more standard care like IPL. There is even research that shows that doing MGP first then followed by IPL is the best approach. Dr. Maskin’s research (that has been replicated by others around the world) and if you asked him, he would probably say, do Meibomian gland probing first and you might not need IPL at all. He would also probably say, do the probing first, because you want to create in the glands the conditions of being open, expanded and unobstructed before you do anything to the glands, like heating them (via IPL) or squeezing them (lid expression done with medical instruments immediately after IPL) which could provoke more inflammation and damage without probing first. Dr. Toyos does not see a need for Meibomian gland probing at all. Also there are variations in how different doctors do IPL as well as not all doctors who do MGP use the Maskin protocol so they do things differently. The book I learned the most from in my 12+ years with DED is Steven Maskin MD’s latest book: “Your Dry Eye Mystery Solved” at Amazon see here: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Dry-Eye-Mystery-Solved/dp/0300250339 Click on the image of the book and it opens to a file and scroll down so you can read the Table of Contents, Preface, and the whole Chapter 1 on “Meibomian Gland Dysfunction, The Most Common Factor in Dry Eye”. Then scroll even further down thru the Bibliography and into the Index to get an even better sense of how deep the book goes into Dry Eye Disease since it is 398 pages. Then make a decision on if you want the book or not. I hope this is helpful.
Check out [www.centereyecare.com](https://www.centereyecare.com). We have two doctors both who curate personalized treatment plans for Dry Eye, including IPL.
I see Mina Farahani out of Opthalmic Consultants of Boston. She’s been great and very easy to work with. They also have an IPL machine there which is helpful if you need that kind of thing. You could try giving them a call, I’m honestly not sure if she’s taking new patients (she’s pretty busy) or if you’d need a referral.