Our dry eye treatments launch in 2027. The details and pricing here are so you can plan ahead — bookings will open closer to the time.
The one treatment that warms your eyelids from the inside — directly against the glands themselves — while pulsing gently from the outside to push the softened oil out. Twelve minutes, both eyes at once, and the most studied treatment of its kind.
Along the rim of each eyelid sit around 25–30 tiny meibomian glands. They release the oil that seals your tears in place. When that oil thickens and hardens, the glands block, your tears evaporate too quickly, and your eyes feel dry, gritty and tired by evening. This is meibomian gland dysfunction — the leading cause of dry eye.
Here is what sets LipiFlow apart. A single-use sterile Activator is placed on each eye. Part of it sits underneath your eyelids, resting against the inner surface — the side the glands are actually on. That element holds a steady therapeutic temperature of around 42.5 °C directly against them for the full twelve minutes.
At the same time, an outer cup resting on your closed eyelid inflates and deflates in a wave, squeezing along each gland from its base toward the opening — a milking motion that pushes the oil out as it melts. The Activator is vaulted so nothing ever touches your cornea, and sensors monitor heat and pressure throughout.
Johnson & Johnson call this Vectored Thermal Pulsation. It was the first system of its kind cleared by the FDA, and it remains the most extensively studied.
A fair question — and the honest answer is that a compress is doing something quite different.
A compress warms the outside of your lid, through the skin. LipiFlow warms the inner surface — the side the glands are on.
A compress begins cooling within a couple of minutes and needs reheating again and again. LipiFlow holds ~42.5 °C for the full twelve.
Melting the oil achieves little if nothing pushes it out. The outer cup pulses along each gland while the heat is still working.
The Activator is vaulted so it never touches the surface of your eye, and sensors watch heat and pressure the entire time.
If you'd rather watch than read, this covers what the treatment involves.
Thickened oil hardens in the gland and plugs the opening. Nothing reaches your tears.
Twelve minutes of steady warmth melts the plug back into a flowing oil.
Gentle expression empties each gland, and your own oil reaches the tear film again.
You recline in the chair and the device does the work. Most patients describe it as a warm, gentle massage.
We examine your glands, lids and tear film to confirm meibomian gland dysfunction is what's driving your symptoms.
Anaesthetic drops go in first so the Activator sits comfortably. Contact lenses come out beforehand.
The single-use Activator is positioned under each eyelid and over the closed lid, vaulted clear of your cornea.
Steady inner-lid heat and outer pulsation run together, automatically. Then you're done — and you can drive yourself home.
It treats the root cause of evaporative dry eye rather than topping up your tears from the outside.
Drops replace moisture for an hour. Clearing the glands restores the oil layer that keeps your own tears from evaporating.
Twelve minutes in the chair. You can drive yourself home afterwards and carry on as normal.
Improvement builds over the weeks after treatment. Published studies report benefits sustained for twelve months in many patients, and longer in some.
LipiFlow was the first thermal pulsation system cleared by the FDA and has over a decade of published clinical research behind it.
LipiFlow® is made by TearScience, a Johnson & Johnson Vision company. It was the first thermal pulsation system cleared by the FDA for meibomian gland dysfunction, and it has been used in well over half a million treatments worldwide.
Independent reviews of the evidence have consistently found that a single twelve-minute session improves gland secretion, tear break-up time and patient-reported symptoms. It is the most extensively researched treatment in this category by some margin.
Dry eye has several causes, and blocked meibomian glands are only one of them. We'll examine your glands, lids and tear film first and recommend LipiFlow only if it genuinely fits what we find — often alongside cleaning the lid margin first, so the glands can actually drain once they're opened.
Individual results vary. LipiFlow® and TearScience™ are trademarks of Johnson & Johnson and its affiliates.
Three treatments that work best together — each one preparing the eye for the next.
A deep-cleaning rinse beneath the eyelids. →
A natural, okra-based clean of the lash line. →
You're here — restoring your natural tear film.
Book a dry eye assessment and we'll tell you honestly whether LipiFlow is the right step for your eyes.
Book an assessment →