I-Brite Eye Whitening with Dr. Boxer Wachler

[dutcheye]

I'm still considering to get the surgery, however, since I am a member of this forum and followed up some advice, my eyes are much better.
I stopped using Visine, which (together with other vasoconstrictors) I have been using for 15 years on a daily basis. I was convinced I couldn't live without my drops. E.g when going out and than discovering I forgot my drops, made me go home again to get them. First thing I did in the morning was putting these drops in my eyes to get my eyes clear. Since I stopped, I found out I was actually only treating the rebound effects all the time. Now, I still have a bit red eyes with some prominent vessels, but way way less than it used to be! Those vessels I would like to get rid of some day.

At the same time I did an allergy test and found out that I'm allergic to mite ?? (not sure if this is correct in english) So, vacuum more often and wash my sheets every second day. Also I started eating a spoon of locally produced honey every day. This also helps to fight allergic reactions you might have against certain plant particles.
My last advice is to eat red fruits, like berries every day.

I have found so much improvement, mostly I guess from stopping Visine.

Hope this will help people in their quest.

[robster]

The fact that they use MMC in this procedure should be enough to put people off if they goggle the effects MMC can have on your health. MMC is mainly used for LASEK in eye surgery circles but very few places use MMC these days due to serious concerns regarding the drug being used on the eyes.

[google me]

Like many of you I had serious concerns about the I-Brite procedure and I kept looking for reviews outside of the I-Brite website. You can read the forum but keep in mind these comments are just opinions. I wanted to hear from people who actually had the procedure and like many of you I was wondering why we did not hear from more people on forums like this? The procedure is life changing and you would think that posts would be pouring in...I would recommend having your own consultation with Dr Boxer Wachler, watch the video testimonials (I-Brite Website) and make your own informed decision.

Dr. Boxer Wachler uses MMC following the procedure but note this is less than 10% concentration and only used for a couple of days then you use a combination of other drops to help the healing process. I-Brite is a last resort in my opinion. I tried everything from changing my diet, flax seed oil, discontinuing get the red out drops, using ointment, staying hydrated, etc. None of these worked for me and I have been searching the web for years and my confidence self esteem was low. Many of you know what I am talking about it's depressing.

[Removed by moderator]

Read my other post regarding the I-Brite procedure. Research, Research, Research and if you decide to have the procedure done please come back and share with everyone your experiences.

[dutcheye]

Googleme, could you do us a favor and post before and after pictures here?

How long did recovery take you?

[google me]

Hi, you can see dozens of before and after shots on the I-brite website some of those are days, weeks and even months after the procedure.

[Removed remainder of post]

[Rebecca Petris]

I am sorry but at this point I have to interfere.

Google Me, much as I do not want to offend you as I am sure you mean well, I have removed most of your post and I'm going to suggest that you find another website(s) to share your good results. Not here. If people want to learn about I-Brite they can do it somewhere else.

There is overwhelming reason to believe that this procedure is not a medically acceptable solution for people with a primary diagnosis of dry eye, which is all our readership. This procedure is for other conditions - not dry eye - and I do not want any of my readers construing this thread into support for the idea that it could be right for them.

[calcan]

Hi everyone,
I have seen a few archived threads about this procedure but I wanted to see if anyone had anything to add. Here is an overview of the procedure: http://www.boxerwachler.com/whiteeyes/ It consists of the doctor, um, peeling off your sclera (clear membrane over eyes). Supposedly a "crystal clear memberane without red blood vessels, yellow or brown spots grows back in its place."

I asked my opthamologist about this procedure. He had never heard of it and said it sounded dangerous. What concerns me is that there is no peer-reviewed study on this procedure and I am having a hard time finding some unbiased feedback on personal experiences. I sent in my pictures, and I was told I would be a "great candidate." The cynical side of me thinks that they say that to everyone who sends in pictures. Anyway, I was told it would cost me $4,650 PER eye for the procedure. I live in the midwest so it would be a big commitment to fly all the way out there for a consultation.

Has ANYONE here had this surgery? What was your experience like? How long did recovery take? Are your eyes better than before, or about the same (or worse)? If you could do it again, would you?

Here's some background on me and why I am considering taking such drastic measures:

I am 26 years old, and my eyes have always been sensitive--they would get red after I wore my contacts all day. But once I moved across the country, they got even worse and now they are red all the time, even though I completely stopped wearing my contacts (and eye makeup) about 5 months ago. I use preservative-free eye drops regularly, and I have seen 3 different opthamologists who have given me varying diagnoses from "you have rosacea-associated blepharitis, that's why your eyes are red" to "you wore your contacts too long, so now you have these veins and the blepharitis is continuing to irritate them." The one constant feature is that there is nothing I can do except try to keep my lids clean and take fish oil.

My doctors have said things like "it's not THAT bad" and "oh nobody's eyes are perfectly white, what they do in the movies is all faked." That may be true, but I do know that when I see other people's eyes, they look much healthier than mine. And when I look at old pictures of me (even from just a year ago, before my move) my eyes are so, so much healthier-looking.

I want to get back to "normal" and not feel trapped in my own body behind these "dirty" eyes, but I also realize that this is a serious surgery that hasn't been proven safe (or even effective), and it will cost me $9,300, plus a round-trip plane ticket and hotel (and I'd have to take at least 3 days off from work). So I REALLY would appreciate ANY feedback, good or bad, about your thoughts and/or experiences with this procedure.

Thank you and take care.

When I was your age and dealing with this issue, I wishfully dreamed of the day that surgery or some other cure could fix this. However, even though that time has finally come, I have decided that surgery is not worth the risk. Too few doctors are performing this surgery, and like others have posted, there are not enough studies on the safety of this surgery; by the looks of things, it could actually make our eyes worse. I will continue to fight the redness with every natural cure known to man, and of course, never use vaso constrictors continuously as I did before ( I still use them a few times a year for special occasions).

[StephenP99]

Unfortunately, this is the only peer reviewed article on the subject so this is the best information we have. I downloaded the actual article and it mentioned that the way this surgery was carried out (with extended mitomycin C usage, no graft leaving the sclera bare), the complications were much more frequent than standard pterygium surgery where only a portion of the conjunctiva is removed and a graft (autograft or amniotic membrane) is used. So in my opinion, if I were to ever do a surgery like this, I would not opt for something like the I-Brite. To date, Dr Boxer Wachler has never published any studies on his I-Brite surgery in a peer-reviewed journal.

I'd love for there to be more of these studies since we don't know the history of those they tested. They only did 48 patients and I'd be happier if they tracked 1000 or so to really get a better idea of the stats for this surgery. Since I do know of quite a few people who did get the surgery and were happy with their results over a year later, so the 90% complications rate is high for me. Once again, more independent studies would be great since the doctors normally don't keep track of their patients afterwards, and it'd probably require another full time team to really be able to do that effectively.

I'm going to try the no dairy/less meat diet and see if that could possibly help some; it's really the only thing I haven't tried besides this procedure. Then maybe I'll try one eye and pray to God none of these bad side effects happens to me. That'll probably be another year or so down the line though since in the beginning there were a ton of great stories, and now a few bad stories have come out as well, so trying to weigh the potential good vs the bad, both of which would be dramatically life changing, will take time.