What Can I do to Treat Dry Eye

The first step to finding the best treatment for eye irritations such as redness, burning, or light sensitivity is to undergo a dry eye examination to confirm a proper diagnosis. Once your eye doctor has verified that dry eye is the cause of your symptoms, he or she can tell you more specifically what is causing your case of dry eye.

There are three major components to the tears that lubricate our eye: water, mucin, and oil (lipids). When any of these components becomes deficient, our tears can no longer properly lubricate the eye. Patients who have aqueous-deficient dry eye typically have poor tear production. Artificial tears or prescription eye drops (such as RESTASIS^®) can often resolve the symptoms of aqueous-deficient dry eye, depending upon the severity of the condition.

Patients with evaporative dry eye typically have a deficiency in the oil layer of the tears, causing the tear film to dry out at a more rapid rate. Since the causes of evaporative dry eye widely vary, the treatments are tailored to meet your unique needs. For example, if you have an eyelid or eyelash infection, antibiotics, steroids, or an anti-inflammatory medication may be prescribed. Conversely, if you have blocked glands in your eyelids (a condition known as meibomian gland dysfunction or MGD), LipiFlow^® Thermal Pulsation System or Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Therapy can often help restore normal oil production and flow to lubricate the eyes, alleviate symptoms, and help slow or halt the progression of chronic dry eye.

If you would like more information about dry eye and our comprehensive diagnostic and treatment services for this common condition, or if you would like to schedule an examination with one of our doctors, please contact us today.