“PClose your eyes, relax and enjoy yourself,” I was instructed in a robotic American accent, just before the loud machine sounds started. Next to me in bed, my husband complained, not for the first time, that it sounded awful.
I feel bad for him, but it's not that bad. I'm busy closing my eyes, relaxing, and enjoying the “pressure and heat” rolling and pulsating over my orbital bones. For the next 15 minutes I am subjected to simultaneous sensations of pleasure and pain. The sound of an industrial fan hits my ears directly, and I can hear the waves of heat and pressure right in front of my eyes. I melted into the pillow as the goggles hit my sore spot and pinched my left eyebrow, which wrinkled due to mild astigmatism. I've been doing this every night before bed for the past few weeks. But I'm starting to worry that my new toy, the Renfore Eye Massager, will make me go blind.
When I showed the device to ophthalmologist and eye surgeon Dr Peter Smich in a Sydney cafe, he said the fears were a little overblown. But he warns: “I don't like things that vibrate in the eyes,” he explained, explaining that the human eyeball is basically jelly, and showed me some fMRI scans of people gently rubbing their eyes. Internally, the action is as violent as the eye scene in A Clockwork Orange.
Sumich says that while massaging the muscles around the eyes is fine and even good, rubbing or vibrating the eyes themselves directly “can damage the retina.” .
Fortunately, I find the vibrating feature of the eye massager physically uncomfortable, so it's not a big loss to avoid it.
I showed Sumich a list of claims where eye massagers are sold. “Relieve headaches and eye strain – that's a bit of a vague claim, isn't it?” he says.
“It reduces eye puffiness, dry eyes, and migraines. Does it help reduce dark circles? I don't know how it does that.”
“Soothes tired eyes? Well, petting a kitten can soothe tired eyes. It's a well-designed claim because it's not specific, you know what I mean?”
A friend showed me an eye massager, so I bought one on sale. She described the device as a form of meditation without actually having to meditate. My friend was right. Goggles evoke a deep awareness of the present moment. It's hard to think about anything else when something hot is pulsating against your face.
I'm not the only one who turns to small appliances to relax. The hashtag #eyemassager has accumulated over 20,000 mentions on TikTok, and the most viewed videos show my device or other similar products.
“Typically, when people have eye problems, it's because of dryness,” Smich says. “And the biggest cause of dryness overall is digital eye syndrome, which is simply us spending too much time on the computer.” I feel like I'm being looked at a little too much when I hear people say that they're the “perfect target audience” for devices like this.
Eye massagers are just one of a rapidly expanding category of personal massage devices. You can also purchase massage devices for the head, shoulders, knees, and toes (feet). Some use air pressure and are similar to post-surgical boots designed to prevent deep vein thrombosis in hospitals (as they are essentially the same thing). Some use vibration. Others look like power drills and promise to soothe sore muscles with hard hitting.
In addition to their massage capabilities, many of these devices also use heat. Mr. Smitch suspects that heat, and the fact that you have to close your eyes to use it, are the secret causes of my device. “If you take a bath, lay down for 15 minutes with a hot cleanser applied to your eyes, relax, and add a glass of wine, you'll probably get the same effect.”
Perth physiotherapist Kieran Richardson agrees with the relaxing power of heat alone. He said the “true skeptic's view” of massage devices would be that “you could probably get similar results just by using a heat pack.”
But that's not his view. Richardson says these devices have a role, and that role will be short-lived. pain relief. “It can take 24 to 48 hours after use. There will be a benefit for patients and clients, but it doesn't seem like it will last long.”
Pain relief may be the responsibility of the massage therapist as well as the client. Richardson said some of his colleagues also use equipment, particularly percussion massage guns.
In Australia, Boa is the Rolls Royce of massage machines. Designed primarily for clinical settings, it can perform a low-pressure but physically demanding style of massage called lymphatic drainage. In a traditional lymphatic drainage massage, the therapist uses highly repetitive brushing motions to manually move lymph fluid around the client's body. The boa resembles the heavily padded uniform of an ice hockey goaltender, instead constricting it.
Anna Davis, the machine's Australian distributor, told me that many of her customers are masseuses and physiotherapists who “just need a little break between clients.” She says there's no substitute for direct contact, but rubbing someone's body for hours on end is “obviously very taxing on the body.”
Most of Davis' Boa customers are wellness centers, but she sold three of them for home use for $22,000 each.
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Unlike many massage devices, the Boa is not electrically heated. There's no need for that. Inside an inflatable spacesuit, body heat is all that's needed. This device has a top and a bottom, but is intended to be used alone. Davis says doing both at the same time would be too intense. As I sat in my chair, sweating and wearing my entire kit anyway, I quietly decided that this was true, even when the machine was not connected.
When you take off the top half of your suit to try out Boa, it initially feels like you're stepping into a pool of viscous liquid. From my feet, air fills the device's 24 algorithm-controlled chambers, slowly compressing me as it expands to my lower body.
The name “Boa” is not a mistake. This machine can be squeezed. I'm trying it on “sports massage” because Davis says this setting is the most intense. The pressure on your lower back feels like a corset is being tightened. As the lower body is compressed, it stretches, gently pulling the ankle and knee joints apart from each other, allowing you to make a few satisfying sounds.
Sometimes Boa feels like a massage and sometimes it doesn't feel like a massage. The sensation is similar to your forearm being slowly dragged over your calf. It could almost be a human hand as the machine gives a soothing grip to my perpetually aching arches. However, humans do not tighten their entire body at once. And humans certainly don't make the same sound as a bouncy castle inflating.
I asked Davis if noise is a problem for people. She says some people mention it. Aside from the fan's forced volume, I feel quite relaxed after a 20-minute session. This is impressive considering I used it in an open-plan office while taking photos while lying on the floor of a windowed conference room.
Although actually purchasing a Boa is far beyond my means, using a Boa at a clinic or spa tends to be slightly cheaper than spending the same amount of time with a qualified massage therapist. Because of this, I decided to try again.
In July this year, Boa became one of only 38 massage products to be approved as a medical device by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Registry. Davis said the process was very easy because Boa already had an equivalent license in Europe. Since receiving TGA approval, Davis has noticed a significant increase in inquiries about the device.
In Australia, medical devices must meet the following requirements: specific requirements Focuses on safety, labeling, and clinical evidence supporting therapeutic claims.
The TGA states that mechanical massage products that make specific claims about treating or alleviating illness or injury may be considered medical devices and regulated accordingly, including my eye massager. Many of these products seem to fall into the gray area of health claims. Any product can claim to be relaxing, liberating, or soothing. But achieving long-term pain relief is another story.
While massagers may seem relatively harmless, Richardson says people who are older and have blood vessel concerns should consult their GP before trying a massager, especially the more impactful types. It states that there is. “Certainly there are scenarios where using it is a risk,” he says.
There's also the fact that any new pain or discomfort is probably your body's way of telling you that something is wrong. Wanting a new toy is likely neither the cause nor the solution to your illness, and a medically qualified human will do a better job than a machine when it comes to diagnosis and treatment.
“There can be very serious symptoms that are painful,” Richardson said. “You always want someone to see it first.”
I plan to continue using the eye massager at night, given that medical professionals have already identified my problem: a significant lack of cooling. However, it's probably a “heat only” setting.
