SkyVision enters age of LipiFlow

Nothing makes me crankier than seeing a promising medical technology or treatment held hostage by a bad business plan. As an aside, nothing I write produces more agita in my editors than when I propose to vent my spleen on topics such as this. I find it even more distressing when cool stuff is marketed primarily on the financial benefits a test or treatment will bring to the practice that adopts the new technology. This is especially depressing when the technology is not only cool in its own right, but also brings a clear and concrete benefit to our patients.That is why it is important to raise the flag when a company pivots and starts to move in a direction that will likely increase access to its technology. This is the case with TearScience and its Lipi-View and LipiFlow technologies. As I mentioned in a recent Healio.com/OSN blog post, dry eye disease (DES) associated with meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) can be treated quite well without the use of LipiFlow, but it is impossible to ignore the near-evangelical zeal with which early LipiFlow adopters talk about their patient results. After being surrounded by “believers” on a panel as the designated “LipiFlow-denier,” I visited with TearScience to re-evaluate the SkyVision position on treating MGD with regard to both LipiView and LipiFlow.