Dry eye clinic · for Leeds, at Heckmondwike
Dry eye clinic for Leeds
Half an hour from Leeds is a clinic that photographs the oil glands in your eyelids, tells you plainly whether they are blocked, and treats them. No referral, and treatment within the week.
Does this sound like your eyes?
Recognise three of these? Your glands are the likely reason, and they can be photographed.
- “I have been on the waiting list for the eye clinic in Leeds since spring and I am still using drops.”
- “The office air conditioning has my eyes gritty by lunch.”
- “Cycling in from Headingley, they stream so badly I have to stop.”
- “The laptop goes blurry and clears when I blink, all afternoon.”
- “I quietly went back to glasses because the lenses stopped being comfortable.”
- “The drops I was given last for about ten minutes.”
- “I wake with my eyes stuck and sore, every morning.”
- “I was told it comes with the menopause and that was that.”
Twenty-five minutes down the M621 is a clinic that photographs the glands, shows you the picture, and treats what it finds, usually within a week or two of ringing. That is what people from Leeds make the journey for.
“The assessment for dry eyes was very enlightening. In the past two visits I have learned more about my eyes than I did in the previous twenty-five years.”
What is actually happening
Why the drops from the chemist in Leeds never lasted: the problem is oil, not water.
The short version, for people who have already been told a lot. The full explanation is on our main dry eye page.
- Most people have it backwards: it is rarely a lack of tears. It is tears that evaporate, because the oil that should hold them has stopped flowing.
- The oil glands sit in the lids, thirty or so in each, and they only work when the oil inside them stays thin enough to leave.
- Screens, hormones, age and some medicines thicken that oil until it sets in the gland. The seal goes, the water goes, the eye dries, and then it waters.
- This is why compresses and drops help for minutes and never for months. Nothing in a bottle reaches a blocked gland.
Types of dry eye
The three types of dry eye, and what we do for each
Most people are told “you’ve got dry eyes” and handed drops. But there are three different causes, and each needs something different. Most people have a mix.
Blocked oil glands: meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD)
About 8 in 10 people with dry eye have this. Along the edge of each eyelid are about 30 tiny glands that put a thin layer of oil on your tears. When they block, your tears dry up in seconds, however much water your eyes make. It feels gritty, burning and tired, often worse on screens or by evening. Drops help for an hour, because they don’t unblock the glands.
What we do: photograph your glands so you can see them, warm and clear them in clinic, clean the lid edge, and use IPL or light therapy where it helps (IPL at our Cheadle and Middleton clinics). Then we give you a simple routine for home.
Not enough tears
Your eyes don’t make enough of the watery part of tears. This is more common with age, some medicines, the menopause, and conditions like Sjögren’s.
What we do: measure your tear level, choose the right drops for you, and use tiny plugs to keep your own tears in where they help. We’ll write to your GP if something needs checking.
Inflamed eyelids: blepharitis, often with tiny mites called Demodex
Crusty, itchy, red lid edges, often worse in the morning.
What we do: deep-clean the lid edge in clinic, treat the mites, and show you how to keep the lids clean at home.
Not sure which one you have? That’s what the assessment is for. We look at your glands, tears and lids, and tell you which type, or which mix.
Three ways to start
Three ways to start, for Leeds
Most people coming from Leeds book the full assessment and get everything done in one visit, because it is a journey. If you are unsure, start with the Dry Eye Assessment, and we can start treatment the same day where we can.
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You know the treatment you wantBook it onlineEyeClean £480 · EyeRelief £900 · EyeRelief Max £1,495. We check your eyes at the first visit before anything starts.
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You want to know what is wrong firstDry Eye Assessment, £145 · 30 minFor anyone whose eyes are a problem and wants an answer
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You have questionsA call-back from your optometristLeave your number and your optometrist rings you back, usually the same day. No fee, no commitment.
Inflamed lids or blepharitis? Book the Full Dry Eye Assessment, £225. Started with the £145 assessment? It upgrades on the day.
Treatment available within the week. Have your assessment and start treatment the same day, where we can.
Gland Scan: £15 with any eye examination (included in our Gold eye examination). Have the assessment and £50 of the fee is set against any treatment you choose. Compare the three, line by line → · Quick check first?
Arrange a call-back with your optometrist
Leave your number. Your optometrist rings you, usually the same day. No fee, no commitment.
Inside the assessment
What the assessment measures, in brief
One visit, everything measured, a written plan you take back to Leeds. Tell us you are travelling and we build the appointment around that.
- Your symptoms, in numbers, so that better can be measured at every visit, and your day, because screens and blinking are half the story.
- Tear volume and tear stability, measured in millimetres and seconds, plus a drop of dye to show where the surface has suffered.
- The lid edge, the lashes and your blink, with gland photographs and the inflammation test in the full assessment, then a written plan that you take home.
£145 without the swab, £225 with it, and £50 of either against treatment. The nine measurements in full →
The first appointment
Your first visit from Leeds
M621 to the M62, off at junction 26, two minutes to Market Street. Parking outside.
- Thirty minutes with the optometrist. Tears timed, tear volume measured, the surface checked with dye, and your lashes examined.
- Then a plan on paper, with each option priced. £50 of the assessment is held against whatever you choose.
- Treatment the same week, and the same day where the diary allows.
Treatment
What treatment costs, coming from Leeds
Every treatment except light happens at Heckmondwike; light is arranged with your results sent ahead. Courses are spaced so the journeys are few, and £50 of your assessment comes off whichever you choose.
Treatment available within the week. Have your assessment and start treatment the same day, where we can.
- EyeClean £480 three visits that clear blocked glands
- EyeRelief (most recommended) £900 four light sessions for glands and inflamed lids, done in about 3 months
- EyeRelief Max £1,495 the full course for inflamed lids and blepharitis
- Plugs · Lacrifill £320 · £520 for eyes short of water, not oil
Single sessions: EyeClean £195 · IPL £295. IPL is at our Middleton and Cheadle practices. The other practices refer to them.
Each treatment, described visit by visit → · All our prices →
Before
AfterRead more: why nothing else worked, and how the two conditions connect
Getting here from Leeds
Twenty-five minutes by car: the M621 to the M62 westbound, off at junction 26, and two minutes into Heckmondwike with parking on Market Street outside the door. From Morley, Pudsey and the south of the city it is quicker still. Without a car, the train from Leeds to Dewsbury takes fifteen minutes and the 229 bus runs from Dewsbury bus station to Market Street in ten. Step-free from the street.
If you are already under St James’s or the LGI
Tell us who you are under and we write to them. A good number of Leeds patients use us while they wait for a hospital dry eye appointment, and some are discharged back to us once the hospital has done what it can. Nothing we do interferes with hospital care, and your scans go with you.
Making it one journey, not three
The assessment and the first treatment go into the same visit when you ask. If the assessment leads to EyeClean, that is three visits over six to eight weeks, each about forty minutes, and the home routine between them is where most of the work happens. Plugs and Lacrifill are done in the chair on the day they are agreed.
Light treatment is at Middleton and Cheadle
IPL and light therapy run at our Middleton and Cheadle practices on the Manchester side of the M62, about forty minutes further on. If your assessment says you need it, we arrange it and send your results ahead, and you will know before you have paid for anything. Everything else, from the assessment to EyeClean, happens at Heckmondwike.
Reviews
What people in Heckmondwike say
4.9★★★★★
G 133 Google reviews of the Heckmondwike practice
“I’ve used Ashworths for years as my opticians.They have always given me prompt reliable service at s reasonable price.”Mike Andrew · Google review · October 2021 · Cheadle
“A fantastic opticians.friendly service lovely staff nothing is to much trouble.the best eye check up I’ve ever had .can not recommend them highly enough.thank you.”Robert Jones · Google review · May 2021 · Winsford
“Me and my husband where really pleased with our visits to Igoe Options.”Robert Miller · Google review · April 2021 · Middleton
Book
Book at Armitage Opticians — Heckmondwike
Every Book button on this page books Heckmondwike, twenty-five minutes from Leeds, and the number rings the desk there.
Coming from Leeds and want the assessment and the first treatment on the same day? Say so in the booking note or on the phone and we will build the appointment around it.
Frequently asked questions
Which assessment should I book from Leeds?
If you already know your eyes are a problem, the Full Dry Eye Assessment: one journey, every measurement, the photographs, your results against healthy and a written plan, with £50 credited to treatment. If you are unsure, book the Dry Eye Assessment, £145, and ask to start treatment the same day.
Why travel out of Leeds for this?
Because treatment is available within the week rather than months, and it is done by the optometrist who assessed you. Half an hour down the M62 is less than most people spend in a hospital waiting room.
I’m under St James’s or the LGI for my eyes. Can I still come?
Yes, and tell us who you’re under so we can write to them. Many patients use us while they wait, and some are discharged back to us for ongoing care.
Will the NHS cover it?
No. The NHS sight test looks at vision and eye health, not at the glands, and it does not fund dry eye treatment. Every price is shown before you decide, and treatment is available within the week.
Can everything be done in one journey from Leeds?
Usually. Tell us you are coming from Leeds and we put the assessment and the first treatment together, and space EyeClean visits so there are as few journeys as possible.