Do You Need Dry Eye Treatment?
When you work on your computer, do you find yourself blinking a lot? Do you rely on getting through the day by using eye drops?
These are some signs and symptoms that you may have dry eye. When trying to decide if you want to treat your dry eye or not, remember it is up to you.
You need to consider how much your symptoms affect your life. Keep reading to find out if you might need dry eye treatment!
What is Dry Eye?
Dry eye occurs when your tear production system does not work as it should. You can over or underproduce tears or produce low-quality tears. When this happens, you can suffer from dry, itchy, or irritated eyes as a result.
Dry Eye Symptoms
Dry eye has many symptoms that can occur if you have the condition. These can include itchy and red eyes, blurry vision, a gritty feeling in your eyes, feeling like something is in your eye, and light sensitivity.
It is possible for patients with dry eye to experience an overproduction of tears. This occurs due to the lack of moisture in your eyes.
When your eyes feel this way, it sends a signal to your nervous system to increase lubrication. It will create a lot of tears to try to resolve the dryness.
The problem with these tears is they are lower quality and mostly made of water. Healthy tears are not made of water but have three components. These are water, mucus, and oil.
Causes of Dry Eye
There are many things that cause dry eye. One reason is that your tear production system can be out of balance. Environmental conditions can impact your tear production and outer layer of your eye.
Other causes include:
- A side effect of prescription drugs like antihistamines
- Getting older as a result of menopause
- Having diseases that affect tear production like thyroid disorders, vitamin A deficiency, rheumatoid arthritis, and Sjogren’s syndrome
- Having conditions that prevent your eyelids from closing properly
If dry eye is impacting your life negatively, talk to your eye doctor about treatment options.
Dry Eye Treatments
There are many different treatments for dry eye. The most common ones are:
Artificial Tears:
Artificial tears work best for mild cases of dry eye. This may be for dry eye that’s caused by reading, using a computer, and other specific situations.
Using artificial tears or lubricating eye drops frequently might be the ideal solution. Talk with your doctor about what brand to use.
Prescription Eye Drops:
Your doctor might recommend prescription eye drops to treat your dry eye. Recommendations can include Restasis (Allergan). Restasis lubricates and decreases inflammation linked to dry eye.
To experience the full benefits of using prescription eye drops, you need to use them for at least 90 days. Xiidra is another brand of prescription eye drops they can prescribe.
Steroid Eye Drops:
Doctors recently realized the importance of treating inflammation when treating dry eye. Eye inflammation is linked to many of the symptoms tied to dry eye.
Other treatment options include punctal plugs, warm compresses, meibomian gland expression, and strong pulsed light treatments.
Is dry eye affecting your quality of life? Having dry eyes makes it hard to enjoy the world around you. Schedule an appointment to discuss your dry eye treatment options at Complete EyeCare West in Columbus, OH now!
