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Dry eyes are one of the most common ocular problems, but that doesn’t make them any less irritating. At Johnston Eye Associates, we provide state of the art treatments and services for our patients suffering from dry eyes.
The cornea is the thin,clear window of tissue in which light focuses through the eye. In a healthy eye the cornea will focus light clearly on the retina in the back of the eye. There are many diseases that affect the cornea, ocular comfort, and ultimately vision. It is vital to keep the ocular surface healthy to maintain optimal vision and there are many conditions that can affect the ocular surface.
The symptoms of dry eye include: scratchy, sandy feeling in the eyes, burning and light sensitivity, redness, intermittently blurred vision, and sometimes ache and pain in the eyes. Dry eye symptoms are often confused with allergy symptoms, though sometimes both dry eye and allergy can occur together.
Dry eye is more common as we all age. It is more common in older women, those with systemic inflammatory disease, diabetes, thyroid disorders, and those doing extended near tasking or computer work through the day. Many medications can contribute to dry eye, including anti-histamines, anti-depressants, and some blood pressure medications. As we get older we naturally produce less tears. This combined with other factors can end up producing a state of dry eye.
Dry eye is an inflammatory condition which includes reduced tear quality and quantity. This underlying inflammation can cause small areas of damage to the cornea, or dry spots, which can cause blurred vision and sometimes loss of vision if permanent corneal scarring occurs in cases of severe dry eye.
There are many treatment options for dry, more then just artificial tear supplements. New generation dry eye medications, nutritional supplements, amniotic membrane graft treatment, serum tears, along with lifestyle changes often needed in combination to treat dry eye.
