Dry Eye Treatment

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Ocular Surface Disease, commonly referred to as Dry Eye, can have a major impact on your quality of life. You may find your eyes get tired faster or you have difficulty reading. Not to mention the discomfort of a burning sensation or blurry vision. Let’s take a look at dry eye treatments – from simple self-care to innovative prescriptions and therapies – to help you see clearly and comfortably.
 

What is Dry Eye/Ocular Surface Disease?

Understanding dry eye will help you determine the best treatment option. Dry eye occurs when a person doesn't have enough quality tears to lubricate and nourish the eye. Tears reduce eye infections, wash away foreign matter, and keep the eye’s surface smooth and clear. People with dry eyes either do not produce enough tears or their tears are of poor quality. It’s a common and often chronic problem, especially in older adults.
 

Preventive Self-Care

Before we delve into more serious dry eye treatment options, here are a few simple self-care options that can manage minor cases of dry eye.

• Blink regularly when reading or staring at a computer screen for a long time.

• Make sure there’s adequate humidity in the air at work and at home.

• Wear sunglasses outside to reduce sun and wind exposure. Wrap-around glasses are best.

• Take supplements with essential fatty acids, as these may decrease dry eye symptoms.

• Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water each day to avoid dehydration.

• Find out if any of your prescriptions have dry eye as a side effect, and if so, see if you can take an alternative.
   

Artificial Tears

For mild cases of dry eyes, the best option is over-the-counter eye drops. Here are a few tips for selecting the right one:

• Low viscosity – These artificial tears are watery. They often provide quick relief with little or no blurring of your vision, but their effect can be brief, and sometimes you must use these drops frequently to get adequate relief.

• High viscosity – These are more gel-like and provide longer-lasting lubrication. However, these drops can cause significant blurring of your vision for several minutes. For this reason, high-viscosity artificial tears are recommended at bedtime.
   

Prescription Dry Eye Treatments

There are several prescriptions that treat dry eye differently. Your eye doctor can advise the best option for your situation.

• Contact Lenses – There are specialty contact lenses that deliver moisture to the surface of the eye. They’re called scleral lenses or bandage lenses.

• Antibiotics– If your eyelids are inflamed, this can prevent oil glands from secreting oil into your tears. Your doctor may recommend antibiotics to reduce inflammation.

• Tear-stimulating drugs – Available as pills, gel, or eye drops, cholinergic (pilocarpine, cevimeline), these help to increase tear production.

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Ocular Surface Disease Procedures

• Punctal Plugs – Tear ducts can be plugged with tiny silicone plugs to reduce tear loss. By partially or completely closing your tear ducts, you can keep your tears from leaving your eye too quickly.

• LipiFlow Thermal Pulsation – This treatment helps to unblock oil glands. Placed over your eye, the device delivers a gentle, warm massage to the lower eyelid for about 15 minutes.

• Intense-Pulsed Therapy – This utilizes pulses of light to liquefy and release hardened oils that have clogged glands in the eyelids.

• Low Level Light Therapy (LLLT) – Level Light Therapy LED is a device that has Blue, Red, Pink, Yellow, Green, and Infra-red Light on the same device. So, in addition to providing effective dry eye treatment, it allows you to treat a variety of skin and vascular conditions, making it the most comprehensive LLLT system. The iLightPro LLLT treatment does not result in any down time, is painless, and is non-invasive.

• TempSure Radio Frequency Treatment – Meibomian Gland Disorder (MGD) is the leading cause of ocular surface disease and discomfort in the eye area, and it is now treatable with TempSure’s Radiofrequency technology, TempSure Envi. The TempSure Envi is a non-surgical lid-lift (blepharoplasty) treatment that uses radiofrequency (RF) energy to safely and effectively treat dry eyes and what people often describe as ‘baggy eyes’ and wrinkles for a smoother, healthier-looking appearance.

• PROKERA® Amniotic Membranes – PROKERA® biologic corneal bandage devices are used by eye doctors around the world to heal and treat ocular conditions such as keratitis, moderate to severe ocular surface disease, recurrent corneal erosions, filamentary keratitis, persistent epithelial defects, neurotrophic corneas, herpetic ulcers, and many other ocular surface diseases such as chemical burns and Stevens-Johnson syndrome.

You don’t have to suffer from the symptoms of dry eye. Talk to your optometrist about dry eye treatment options designed to address the underlying cause of your condition.