Miebo Eye Drops- What is Miebo?

By Dr Leigh Plowman, Optometrist (Updated Dec 2023)

Here is a full transcript of the Youtube Video above:

In this video, we’ll be talking about Miebo®, what is it, who it’s for, and how it helps:

My name’s Dr. Leigh Plowman, Optometrist. I’m the founder of the Dry Eye Directory.

Today we’ll be talking about Miebo®, and it’s how it’s unique from other eyedrops.

Increased Evaporation causing Dry Eyes

Miebo® is a first of its kind lipid-based eyedrop, and it’s designed to help with evaporation.

One of the most common problems with dry eyes is that we get increased evaporation.

Instead of the tear film, protecting your eyes a little bit like a wetsuit protects you from the cold, the tear film instead becomes thin and a little bit like a business shirt,

So it leaves you exposed and it can create sensitivity of your eyes to different environments, and it makes your eye more likely to feel tired, itchy, dry, sore or watery.

Miebo® is one of the first of its kind eyedrops on the market, and it’s designed to help supplement this lipid layer.

And it does this by helping to fill in some of the patchiness where the oil film has evaporated or in maybe it’s gone entirely.

What’s unique about Miebo is that it’s based on perflurohexyloctane, and this is a lipid-based component.

When it goes onto the eye, it’s very quick to smooth across, to spread across the surface of the eye.

The goal in using it is to not only protect the underlying tear layer from evaporation, but also to give less friction to the surface.

This means that every time you blink, that there’s less rubbing of the top eyelid across the surface of your eye, and that that makes it glide much more smoothly.

The Miebo® drops also help to protect the underlying layers, so it helps the cornea to heal.

And in the studies they showed that there was a significant improvement of corneal healing after two months, and some improvements were seen as as early as two weeks.

And there was even a longer study that’s been produced that came out at 52 weeks of using four times a day, and they found a significant improvement in both signs and symptoms of dry eyes.

Miebo® because it’s a hundred percent perflurohexyloctane, there’s no water in it, and that means that you don’t need a preservative in the bottle. So it’s preservative-free.

Small Drop Size

Miebo® also has an advantage of being a really small drop size, so when it goes onto the eye, you’re not, you’re not spilling the drop out.

The drop size of Miebo is around 10-12 microliters, so it’s a very small eye drop. Most eyedrops on the market are around about 50 microliters.

If you’ve ever put drops in your eyes, you know that as soon as you put a drop in, you’re gonna have to reach for a tissue and wipe your eyes to wipe that excess away.

With Miebo®, you won’t have that problem.

The advantage of using Miebo® is that it can even penetrate the meibomian glands.

For people who have really thick oil in their glands that don’t like to express, or they’re just finding that they’re like toothpaste, Miebo® could be a good option.

I was spoke to a colleague about one of her patients. She said that she prescribed this drop and by just using this drop four times a day.

She found that the next time she saw the patient, she looked at the Meibomian Glands and she said, wow, your glands are so much clearer now. They’re actually flowing well.

And of course, this is one patient that’s an example. It may not reflect all patients, but Miebo® has been shown to penetrate the meibomian glands.

Miebo® vs Novatears®

Miebo® is similar to other drops on the market like NovaTears®. Here is a table showing the similarities:

When I use NovaTears®, I recommend it to go after other eyedrops. So someone might use a drop, like a Hyaluronate drop, a bit like HyloForte®. This helps to boost the tear volume and then about ten minutes later to put NovaTears® in last.

And that helps to seal in that moisture and keep the oily layer on top to boost it up.

NovaTears® can also be used with other prescription drops, so it’s best used last to help seal in the moisture. I’ll leave a link in the description below this video to check out NovaTears®.

Cost of Miebo®

Miebo is available in the USA. It’s a prescription only eye drop, and without insurance, it’s around about $925 per month.

Insurance does take that down, so I know with one company like BlinkRx, you get a first bottle free, and then it’s around $60 per month after insurance is deducted.