Admission: I suffer from eye strain. Even at this very second. As a reporter who works on a computer for more than eight hours most days, I often feel fatigue and itchy eyes at night.
I'm not alone: More than half of the U.S. population lives with computer vision syndrome, also known as digital eye strain, and nearly 16.4 million Americans suffer from dry eye syndrome. So I was especially excited to come across New Vogue Spa, in City of Industry, which offers a relaxing, yet intriguing treatment called 'Eyeball Care', something I'd never heard of before in a day spa.
New Vogue Spa is an Asian-style spa with Korean and Chinese influences. The spa's offerings include massages and body scrubs (I was curious about the “Red Wine Body Scrub”), but I couldn't help but explore eyeball care, which was much needed after my 50-minute drive from Silver Lake. (City of Industry is about 30 minutes from downtown Los Angeles without much traffic.)
So I found myself lying on a massage table, wearing what looked like diving goggles sticking out, with clouds of cool, aromatic steam oozing out from both sides and enveloping my face. A thin plastic tube extended from my forehead to the “Eye Spa” machine. Serene spa music, a mix of classical piano and loudly chirping birds, trilled in the background as the machine splashed and gurgled. It felt like lying next to a stream, in a spa robe wrapped in a blanket of chamomile and rosemary-scented mist.
While my esthetician, Jenny Chen, adjusted the eye mask and added essential oils to the mist, New Vogue manager Lesley Xie explained that the $125, 60-minute Eyeball Care treatment aims to hydrate and stimulate blood circulation in the eye area, decrease puffiness and dark circles, and help with eye fatigue and dry eye syndrome.
“It's really helpful for the overall eye health of people who spend a lot of time on the computer, sleep very late or read a lot,” he said.
1. The Eyeball Care treatment included a mask filled with cool, aromatic steam to help soothe tired eyes. 2. Slippers in the Himalayan Salt Room.
Xie said eyeball care treatments are common in China. When I was growing up in Guangdong, southern China, primary school students were given a break every afternoon to do “eye exercises,” which involved gently massaging pressure points around the eye area, for 5 to 10 minutes.
“It relieved eye stress because we studied from eight in the morning until almost noon,” he said. “It was a rest for our eyes to prevent nearsightedness and tired eyes.”
The New Vogue Spa treatment was extremely relaxing from the start – part Head Spa, part facial and part eye care. Chen began massaging my scalp for about 10 minutes while I tried not to fall asleep.
She then cleaned my face, applied massage cream, and gently massaged my face and eye area, manipulating the outer corners of my eye sockets as well as under my brow bones and temples. She was precise and firm but careful; As I pressed the outer corner of my eye, I felt the tension run down the side of my cheek and neck.
Beautician Jenny Chen performs “golden eye therapy” on journalist Deborah Vankin.
Xie said the massage is based on traditional Chinese medicine and focuses on stimulating acupressure points around the eyes.
“Gentle massage of these areas is believed to help promote blood circulation, relax the muscles responsible for concentrating, and relieve eye strain,” he said. “While it is not a medical treatment for vision conditions, it is widely used as a preventative and restorative method.”
The massage was followed by “golden eye therapy,” during which Chen used an electronic device on my face with a metal ball. It uses “ultrasonic vibration technology,” Xie said, to help the skin absorb the applied moisturizer and combat eye puffiness.
The main event was “refreshing steam therapy,” which Xie said was intended to calm and cool and help soothe tired eyes. Chen put what looked like a huge diving mask on me that quickly filled with a cool, hydrating mist; I felt drops of water dripping from my eyes and down my cheeks. The Eye Spa machine uses a “cold mist atomization process,” Xie said, “which disperses microparticles of moisture combined with calming essential oils.”
At the end of my treatment, Chen gave me gel pillow masks under my eyes for added hydration, while performing a final head massage. She applied moisturizing eye cream, face cream, and sunscreen before saying goodbye.
Dr. Kristina Voss, an ophthalmologist at Keck Medicine of USC, raved about the Eyeball Care treatment.
“It sounds wonderful. Whatever makes you feel good, I usually support it,” he said. “It seems safe because they don't put pressure on the eye. Direct pressure in the eyeball [is dangerous]. And I'd be nervous if they were putting something on in the eye, but they are not. Steam, or even cool condensation from a humidifier, is effective for dry eyes. “Massaging pressure points probably doesn’t treat dry eye, but it could treat eye strain or tension headaches that can be interpreted as eye strain.”
Los Angeles Times writer Deborah Vankin inspects her eyeballs after her treatment.
However, temporary relief aside, Voss cautioned that the treatment is not a substitute for seeing a doctor if the condition continues.
“It is soothing and complementary to medical treatments for dry eye, such as medicated drops or in-office treatments, but it is not a simple solution or cure-all,” he said. “Ongoing medical care would be important.”
After my treatment, I was invited to stay in the mixed Himalayan salt room and red clay room or the women-only spa area, complete with a hot tub, lounging area, and treatment rooms for body scrubs. (I skipped the adjacent New Vogue MedSpa, where you can get Botox, dermal filler, or microneedling treatments.)
Guests also enjoy a cup of homemade snow mushroom tea (made from Tremella mushrooms) with a single jujube or red date floating inside. New Vogue makes a new batch every morning for guests, simmering the collagen-rich drink for so long that it turns somewhat gelatinous.
1. The Himalayan Salt Room. 2. The mixed living room. 3. The Red Clay Room.
“Snow mushrooms focus on deep hydration and plumping the skin, while red dates support circulation and a healthy glow,” Xie said, calling the concoction “a hot bowl of snow mushroom and red date soup.”
I can't speak to the medicinal benefits of snow mushroom tea. But after a glass of this warming, woodsy beverage, along with the hour-long tension-relieving eye treatment, I saw the world in a whole new way as I walked out the door: clearly, from a relaxed perspective, and with the bigger picture in focus.
