New Breakthrough Treatment For Evaporative Dry Eye Disease Introduced By Dry Eye Specialist, Mark R. Mandel, M.D.
New Treatment for Chronic Dry Eye Disease
HAYWARD, Calif., May 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Mark R. Mandel, M.D. , subspecialist in external eye conditions and dry eye, in practice in the Bay Area for 30 years, today announced that he is the first in the Northern California area to introduce a new treatment for the hundreds of thousands of patients in Northern California who suffer from Evaporative Dry Eye disease. This common condition stems from a deficiency in the oily lipid layer of the eye's natural tear film. The oily lipids serve as a protective layer so that the aqueous (water) layer of the eye's tear film does not evaporate. Dr. Mandel has introduced the recently FDA approved, advanced, in-office treatment, called LipiFlow®, which is intended to treat patients with blocked eyelid oil glands, called meibomian gland dysfunction, by unblocking the glands and allowing them to resume the secretion of oily lipids critical for a healthy tear film. Prior to this new treatment, there has been no effective treatment for this pervasive, troublesome, and often debilitating condition.
Dry eye disease affects more than 100 million people worldwide. Of those, 65 percent suffer from Evaporative Dry Eye. Common symptoms of dry eye include dryness, grittiness, soreness, irritation, burning, watering, and eye fatigue. These symptoms can significantly hinder people's daily activities such as reading, using the computer, wearing contact lenses and being outdoors on windy days, or in an air conditioned environment. Many dry eye patients complain that those symptoms worsen throughout the day. "The symptoms of dry eye disease are one of the most common reasons people visit the eye doctor," said Dr. Mandel. "As dry eye specialists, we are thrilled to be able to offer the new LipiFlow treatment to help those patients who are frustrated with this chronic condition and all of the ways it negatively impacts their lives. Most patients note significant symptom relief."
About Mark Mandel, M.D. and Optima Ophthalmic Medical Associates, Inc.
Dr. Mandel was born and raised in Los Angeles. He graduated with Honors from Oxford University, England, receiving both a Bachelors and Masters Degree. He received his Medical Degree from UCLA School of Medicine and completed his ophthalmology residency at Pacific Presbyterian Hospital in San Francisco. Following this, he took an additional year to subspecialize in corneal transplant surgery and conditions of the external eye such as dry eye and meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) at the University of Iowa, one of the most prestigious cornea and external eye disease programs in the world.
Dr. Mandel teaches and lectures throughout the U.S. and abroad to eye physicians on different aspects of cataract, corneal, and refractive surgery as well as dry eye and meibomian gland dysfunction. He also teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, UCSF, and at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.
Dr. Mandel has been selected by hundreds of eye doctors and other physicians to perform LASIK, corneal transplant, cataract surgery, and LipiFlow treatment on themselves, their families, and their office staff, who trust him for his knowledge and surgical skill, and rely on him for his experience, honesty and integrity.
His offices are in Hayward, San Leandro, Concord, and Santa Clara. For more information, visit www.optimaeye.com.
SOURCE Optima Ophthalmic Medical Associates, Inc.
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