I am late to this thread but wanted to share in case it helps someone. I have ocular rosacea - I flush easily and for the last few years have noticed my eyes were getting progressively redder. I also have horrific burning, itching and a gritty feeling in my eyes along with dry eyes caused by MGD.
2 years ago I had a treatment called Lipiflow which squeezes all your oil out of your meibomian glands using heat and manual compression by a machine and it was pretty helpful- lasted about 2 years but it didnt correct the redness. Then as soon as March this year started, my eyes flared up again. So, yesterday I had a private appointment with a consultant ophthalmologist. He confirmed I have OR and suggested IPL. I had the first treatment yesterday- he put eye covers over my eyes and flashed this very hot red light on my inner eyelids- top and bottom. Then he manually squeezed my eyelids with what looked like tweezers which was a bit painful but the relief was incredible- I literally felt oil pouring out of my eyes and down my cheeks. It felt absolutely blissful.
For the rest of yesterday, my eyelids felt mildly sunburnt, were a tiny bit puffy and felt just as uncomfortable as usual.
Today however, has been completely different - my eyes look normal again, the whites look whiter, and they feel the most comfortable they've been in months. He has told me that OR is a chronic condition, and therefore nothing will "cure" it permanently. However, I am to have a total of 4 IPL treatments spaced about 4 weeks apart and then he recommended a maintenance treatment every year thereafter. If the improvement I have seen after just one is anything to go by, I am really, really hopeful that after 4 I will see a big improvement.
He told me that OR is caused by an inflammatory response whereby the body creates excessive tiny blood vessels in your eyes called Telangiectasia. These arent healthy blood vessels- they are dilated, fragile and leaky and irritate the nerves in your eyes causing a release of histamines, prostaglandins and cytokines. This is what causes the burning and itching and redness. IPL destroys these unhealthy blood vessels and therefore reduces the associated inflammation. Obviously, everyone is different and our bodies all work in different ways and this is still early days for me but the difference it has made in only one day is pretty astonishing so I hope this gives someone hope.
The only bugger is the expense - it really annoys me that this isnt available under NHS as it really affects your quality of life so much.