Should I Pursue Dry Eye Treatment?
Do your eyes tend to feel irritated while you’re working? Do you need to use eye drops to get through the workday?
These are two signs that you could have dry eyes. Treating your dry eye is up to you and how it impacts your life.
If your dry eye impacts your life, it could be worth discussing with your doctor. Keep reading to find out if it could be worth it to pursue dry eye treatment!
What is Dry Eye?
If your eyes are constantly uncomfortable, it’s a sign that you could have dry eyes. Experiencing burning or stinging sensations are common if you have dry eyes.
Certain environments can even be tied to causing dry eyes. These include airplanes, sitting near air conditioning or heat, or using digital devices.
It’s important to know the symptoms of dry eyes if you want to prevent them from occurring.
Symptoms of Dry Eye
There are many symptoms associated with dry eye. Common symptoms include:
- Itchy or red eyes
- Experiencing a gritty sensation
- Blurry vision
- Becoming more sensitive to light
- Feeling like there is something stuck in your eyes when there’s nothing there
Also, some patients start to overproduce tears. This happens because of the lack of moisture in your eyes.
If your eyes feel dry, it signals the nervous system that they need to create more tears to lubricate your eyes. These tears are made up of mostly water.
Normal or healthy tears are not composed of only water but include water, oil, and mucus.
Causes
Dry eyes have many causes. The most common reasons people develop dry eye is a lack of tears or the tears produced are low-quality.
Another reason people develop dry eye is because of the environment they are in. If you are in a drier environment, like an airplane, it could affect how your eyes produce tears.
Other causes of dry eye include:
- Aging
- As a side effect of prescription drugs like antihistamines
- Suffering from conditions that impact your tear production like rheumatoid arthritis
- Having conditions that impact your eyelids from closing as they should, affecting tear production
When your dry eyes start affecting your lifestyle and work, it might be time to talk with your eye doctor. They can discuss different treatment options with you.
Treatments
There are many treatment options for dry eye, including:
Artificial Tears:
Artificial tears are ideal for patients with mild dry eyes. Reading, looking at screens too much, and situations can cause mild dry eye symptoms.
Lubricating eye drops or artificial tears can solve the problem. Ask your doctor about what brand they recommend.
Prescription Eye Drops:
For more severe cases of dry eye, prescription eye drops may be necessary. Your doctor may prescribe Restasis (Allergan) or Xiidra.
The eye drops lubricate and reduce the inflammation tied to dry eyes. To see if they help your symptoms, you need to use them for at least 90 days.
Steroid Eye Drops:
If you have a lot of inflammation from your dry eye symptoms, your doctor may prescribe steroid eye drops. Treating inflammation is an important part of treating dry eye.
Other dry eye treatments include:
- Warm compresses
- Punctal plugs
- Meibomian gland expression
- Strong pulsed light treatments
Do you think it’s time to treat your dry eye? Schedule an appointment at Complete EyeCare West in Columbus, OH to discuss your dry eye treatment options!
