Dry eye disease (DED) is a multi-factorial condition that commonly causes symptoms such as irritation, burning, stinging, watery eyes or fluctuations in vision.  If you have any of these symptoms, you may have dry eye disease and should be assessed by an optometrist. 

Your optometrist will take a close look at the cornea, the very front surface of your eye, with a microscope and assess the tear film quantity and quality.  A thorough examination of the eyelids and lashes is necessary to assess the health of the meibomian glands (the oil glands within our eyelids).  Fluorescein staining is also commonly used to diagnose dry eye – this is a yellow dye that will highlight any ocular surface irregularities.

DED is most commonly caused by a deficient oily tear layer often due to a condition called blepharitis.  Although there are many different types of dry eye that have different causes, the common factor in all of them is inflammation on the surface of the eyes.

Mild dry eye is most often treated with artificial tears, hot compresses, and eyelid scrubs.  The optometrist will recommend one or more of these in order to come up with an individualized treatment plan depending on the cause of your dry eyes.   Severe dry eye may need to be treated with prescription eyedrops, punctal plugs (plugs that close the drainage structure on the front of your eye).

Of course.  Remember to drink enough water each day to ensure that you stay hydrated.  Give yourself regular breaks from the computer and smart phone – when we are focused on a specific task, we tend to blink much less than we need to.  Remember the 20/20/20 rule – every 20 minutes look past 20 feet for at least 20 seconds – blink a few times and you should be set to get back to what you were doing.