DRY EYE & BLEPHARITIS
I offer comprehensive evaluations and tailored treatments designed to address your specific symptoms. My goal is to bring you back to a place of comfort and clarity, by providing support every step of the way. Experience the difference of dedicated eye care focused solely on your needs.
WHAT IS DRY EYE & BLEPHARITIS?
The tear film dynamics are complex and are comprised of 3 components: the aqueous (water) layer, lipid (fatty) layer, and mucin layer. Together they form an emulsion that is nutritive, protective, and optically ideal for the eye. As we age the system gets broken down at each level.
When the oils are not secreted well from the glands, we call this blepharitis or meibomian gland dysfunction. This leads to “evaporative dry eye” because the tears evaporate too quickly off the eye.
When the water layer from the lacrimal gland ineffectively produces the water for the tear film we call this aqueous tear deficiency.
We understand that the mucin layer of the tear film is also important but its contribution to the dry eye syndrome is not as clear.
Symptoms of dry eye include:
• Tearing
• Foreign body sensation
• Dry, gritty sensation
• Tired sensation
• Burning
• Pain
These conditions are chronic and manageable but will never be “cured”. Just like many other medical conditions, there may be times where the dry eye is well controlled and other times when the dry eye or blepharitis flares up.
How do we treat these conditions? First, we start with basic and natural treatments. Warm compresses to the eyelids can help encourage the flow of oil from the glands. Artificial tears that can be purchased over the counter can help soothe the eye when used several times a day. Using wipes or cleansers made for the eyelids can help control bacteria and inflammation. These wipes might contain tea tree oil or hypochlorus acid.
Environmental adjustments might also help with dry eye. Avoiding ceiling fans while sleeping, turning the air conditioner in the car away from your face and eyes, discontinuing smoking can all help with dry eye syndrome.
There are also pharmaceutical grade medications and procedures that might be used together, synergistically to address the complexity of the condition. It is important to speak with your optometrist or ophthalmologist regarding these treatments.
