No Surgery, No Downtime: How OptiLIFT Transforms Lower Lid Laxity Treatment

* This article reflects Dr. Chelnis’s professional experience with OptiLIFT’s technology and its treatment effects. Results may vary.

Treating lower lid laxity has often been overlooked in practice because the only real solution has been surgery, and not all patients are candidates. For those with mild to moderate lid laxity, temporary measures like taping lids at night or relying on lubricants are limited in effectiveness since they fail to address the root cause.

Now, we can close this gap in care with OptiLIFT™. This non-surgical solution features Lumenis’s proprietary Dynamic Muscle Stimulation (DMSt) technology, which restores muscle tone to address lower lid laxity and impaired blinking.

What is Lid Laxity?

Our eyelids play a crucial role in maintaining a stable and healthy ocular surface. They are essential to maintaining the tear lake and dispersing meibum to seal the watery layer of the tear film. Without sufficient lid tone to reset and maintain the tear lake with each blink, patients experience symptoms related to the breakdown of the ocular surface.

Lower lid laxity is highly prevalent, affecting 78.3% of patients who visit ophthalmology clinics for eyelid-related concerns.¹ It’s often associated with aging, as we naturally lose 3-8% of our skeletal muscle mass each decade after age 30.² This muscle loss increases our vulnerability to gravitational descent and laxity of the lower eyelids as our supports begin to fail. Lid laxity can also be hereditary, so I have encountered younger patients who could also benefit from improved eyelid muscle tone.

When lids lose tension, incomplete blinking can occur, which has been closely associated with dry eye disease symptoms, decreased tear breakup time, meibomian gland dropout, and reduced expressibility.³ In fact, more than 60% of dry eye patients struggle with impaired lid closure.⁴

Eyelid muscles are under constant stress from nonstop blinking throughout life. It makes sense that the muscle tissue starts to gradually degrade over time, and the only way to regain that tone is through treatment.

Dynamic Muscle Stimulation (DMSt) as a New, Non-Surgical Treatment Option

OptiLIFT’s DMSt technology works by activating the periorbital muscles with gentle electrical impulses to create muscle tone and restore eyelid tightness. It engages the muscles and their networks at their points of origin, increasing their resting tone and supporting the natural structure of the eyelids.

Think of it as a barre class for the eyelids. Instead of building bulky, bodybuilder-like muscles, the goal is to tone and strengthen, resulting in a naturally firm muscle at a newly fit baseline. This eyelid “workout” provides long-lasting improvement in tone and tightness without the need for surgery.

OptiLIFT treatment protocol includes four sessions, with a one-week interval between them. The treatment involves using a back-and-forth motion with the tip of the handpiece along the inferior orbital rim below the lower eyelids for 14 minutes, seven minutes per side. This non-invasive technology is quick, effective, and easy to incorporate into your workflow—expanding your capabilities while keeping patients in your practice.

I’ve seen results in some patients after only one or two OptiLIFT treatments, and there continues to be progressive improvement through treatments three and four.

Breakthrough Clinical Study Results

I had the opportunity to lead the clinical study on Lumenis’s DMSt technology, which included 30 patients with lower lid laxity and moderate-to-severe dry eye disease due to meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). We conducted a series of muscle stimulation treatments to determine the optimal treatment schedule and to understand the patients’ progression as they moved through the treatment. We found that Lumenis’s DMSt technology demonstrates a reduction in lid laxity by at least 75% and an improvement in blinking quality by at least 70%, while also significantly improving meibomian gland function and dry eye symptoms.⁵

The study revealed another promising finding: many of the measured metrics continued to improve throughout the course of treatment without hitting a plateau.⁵ This suggests that even greater results may be achievable with ongoing DMSt treatment. Unlike in other studies where progress levels off after a certain point, this data shows each treatment building on the previous one, leading not only to increased strength, but also to sustained improvements over time.

Patients in the study also experienced no downtime after the procedure, and after weekly treatments for about a month, most showed substantial improvements in tear lake stability, meibum quality, and lower eyelid tone. Overall, the study found a 286% improvement in tear breakup time.⁵ It’s rare to see such noteworthy differences with the before and after data.

A Winning Combination: DMSt with Radio Frequency (RF)

In addition to DMSt technology, OptiLIFT utilizes radio frequency (RF). It’s the first device with two modalities that improve the ocular surface, delivered at the same time, through a single handpiece. This combination helps explain why the treatments can be so short yet so effective.

Studies have already proven that topical RF—which delivers heat to targeted tissue layers—increases the regeneration and rejuvenation of meibomian glands, improving meibum expression and overall eyelid health.^6,7,8 The treatment warms old, stale meibum within the glands, facilitating its natural flow while also promoting collagen production.
Together, these technologies improve the overall ocular surface.

Final Thoughts

OptiLIFT is part of Lumenis’s growing device portfolio, providing practitioners with another tool to help pinpoint the root cause of each patient’s symptoms and deliver solutions to meet their individual needs effectively. While OptiLIGHT and OptiPLUS improve symptoms of dry eye disease due to MGD by reducing inflammation and improving meibum production, OptiLIFT tones the muscles to address lower lid laxity. If a patient’s underlying issue is that their lower lid is lax, the related signs and symptoms will likely continue unless it is addressed directly.

A sizeable population of patients can benefit from OptiLIFT, and I am excited to offer them a treatment option that delivers lasting results without surgery or downtime.

Dr. James Chelnis is an award-winning aesthetic surgeon and ophthalmologist recognized for his expertise in oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgery. As the founder and director of Manhattan Face & Eye in New York, Dr. Chelnis is dedicated to helping patients achieve their aesthetic and eye care goals. He specializes in both surgical and non-surgical facial rejuvenation, orbital surgery, and advanced treatments for conditions such as orbital tumors, facial skin cancer, eyelid drooping, tearing issues, and tear duct reconstruction.

Website: https://www.manhattanfaceandeye.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-chelnis-6b703a71/