About Dry Eye
What is Dry Eye?
Dry eye disease is a common condition that affects a large majority of the population and occurs when your tears aren't able to provide adequate lubrication for your eyes. Tears can be inadequate and unstable for many reasons. There are multiple forms of dry eye which affect the eyes in different ways.
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Aqueous Deficient Dry Eye: The eyes do not produce enough of the aqueous layer or watery layer of the tear film.
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Evaporative Dry Eye is when portions of the tear film evaporate quickly and do not provide an adequate tear film.
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Inflammatory Dry Eye occurs when inflammation around the lids and lashes leads to a reduction of the oily layer of the tear film.
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In some cases some patients will have a combination of more than one type of dry eye.
What Causes Dry Eyes?
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Allergies
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Autoimmune conditions such as Hyper or Hypothyroidism, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriatic arthritis, Crohn's disease and much more.
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Daily Environment (dusty, windy, hot/dry) such as working in a construction site, kitchen, or hospital etc.
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Decreased hormones associated with aging
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Pregnancy and associated hormonal changes
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Eyelid inflammation (blepharitis and meibomian gland dysfunction)
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Medication/supplement use including, such as OTC cold medicines, anti-histamines, beta-blockers, pain relievers, sleeping pills, diuretics, hormonal replacement, and oral contraceptives
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Sjogren's syndrome (dry mucous membranes throughout body)
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Eye surgery, post refractive surgery (LASIK or PRK)
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Contact lens use and contact lens overwear.
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Neurologic conditions including: stroke, Bell's palsy, Parkinson's, trigeminal nerve dysfunction
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Exposure keratitis, eyelids do not close completely during sleep (lagophthalmos)
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Diabetes
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Infectious Keratitis, including Herpes Simplex and Herpes Zoster Keratitis
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Neurotrophic Keratitis
Dry Eye Symptoms
Dry Eye Treaments
Although a complete cure for dry eye remains unavailable, there are several methods to alleviate its symptoms and help manage the condition to prevent it from worsening. The primary objective is to enhance tear production by reducing ocular inflammation improving meibomian gland production (oil glands of the lids).
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Currently there many different approaches to dry eye and at Everyone Eyecare, we recognize that dry eye treatment is not one-size-fits-all. We like to take a good, better and best option for patient dependant on which route is best for each patient. Click the link below to learn about the many different options that can help manage your dry eye.
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