Chronic dry eye is on the rise. While many factors, including age and hormone fluctuations, can contribute to this condition, the huge increase in screen usage is very likely part of the problem.
Every time you blink, a teary film spreads across your eyes to nourish and moisturize them and keep your vision clear. If something disturbs this process, you’ll immediately feel the effects, often including a scratching and burning sensation in your eyes.
No matter if you have mild or severe dry eye, there is a treatment option available to provide some much-needed relief.
At Clover Internal Medicine Associates in Fort Worth, Texas, our team, led by Elaine Phuah, DO, MBA, FACOI, and Leon Tio, DO, MA, FACOI, understands how frustrating it can be to deal with chronically dry eyes.
In this month’s blog, we discuss some treatment options that can address dry eye, ranging from drugstore products to treatments we perform in our office.
Before you can effectively treat your dry eye, it’s essential to discover what’s triggering it.
Sometimes, your eyes are dry because they don’t produce enough tears, known as aqueous-deficient dry eye.
In other cases, dry eye develops because your tears evaporate too quickly, known as evaporative dry eye.
Ordinarily, oil produced by tiny meibomian glands that line the lower eyelids helps prevent your tears from evaporating too quickly.
Oftentimes, evaporative dry eye stems from meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). This common condition occurs when the glands become clogged, leading to changes to the oil layer of your tears.
Factors that can contribute to the development of either dry eye type include:
Once we discover the contributing factors, treating your dry eye becomes much more effective.
If your dry eye is mild, you can start by using some over-the-counter products and at-home remedies. They’re typically effective and easy to use.
Some of these treatment options include:
If non-prescription options aren’t effective, some more potent medications that our team can prescribe include:
After exhausting these options, our team offers an effective treatment procedure, known as OptiLight, to address more severe dry eye linked to MGD.
OptiLight is a type of intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy. It can address evaporative dry eye due to MGD by using multiple wavelengths of pulsating light to:
During the procedure, our team applies a gel substance to your eyelids before placing a protective shield over your eyes. The OptiLight device then sends out controlled pulsed light to the skin around your eyes. Typically, you need to undergo multiple sessions (usually four spaced 2-4 weeks apart) for optimal results.
To learn more about how our team can partner with you for effective dry eye treatment, schedule an appointment by calling our office or using our online booking feature today.
