Dry Eye Syndrome
Here in Northern Colorado and around the globe, the dry eyes or dry eye syndrome (DES) is an condition for which treatments might not be able to cure. Most of the cases that we see of the symptoms of dry eye—including dryness, scratchiness and burning—are able to be successfully managed by the individual.
Common Treatments for DES
In Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley, your optometrist might recommend artificial tears, which are lubricating eyedrops that may alleviate the dry, scratching feeling and foreign body sensation of dry eye. Prescription eye drops for dry eye go one step further: they aid your body in increasing your eye’s tear production.
If you wear contact lenses, be aware that many artificial tears cannot be used during contact lens wear. You will need to remove your lenses before using the eye drops. Be sure to wait 15 minutes or longer (check the label for specific instructions) before you reinsert the contacts.
For mild cases of dry eye, contact lens rewetting drops may be all that is needed to help your eyes feel better, but the effect is usually only a temporary fix. Many people have found that switching to another lens brand can help as well.
Be sure to check with your eye doctor before buying any over-the-counter eye drops to alleviate DES. Your eye doctor will know which formulas will be the most effective as well as long-lasting and which are not. They will also be able to tell you which eye drops you will be able to use with your current contact lenses.
To minimize the effects of sun, wind and dust on dry eyes, it is best to wear sunglasses when outdoors. We have found that the wraparound styles offer the best protection and coverage.
When you are indoors, an air cleaner can filter out dust and other particles from the air, while employing a simple humidifier will add some much needed moisture to the air (Northern Colorado is considered ‘high desert’ so we pretty much always have really dry air) especially in winter with the use of heaters.
For the more serious cases of dry eye, your eye doctor may prescribe punctal plugs. These plugs are tiny devices which are inserted into the ducts in your eyelids in order to slow the drainage of tears away from your eyes, thereby keeping your eyes more moist.
Eye doctors occasionally recommend special nutritional supplements that containing specific essential fatty acids that will naturally decrease your dry eye symptoms. Another natural solution is simply drinking more water to relieve symptoms.
If medications that you are taking are the cause of your dry eyes, then discontinuing the drug generally resolves the problem. But in these cases, the benefits of the drug must be weighed against the side effect of dry eyes. Sometimes switching to a different type of medication alleviates the dry eye symptoms while keeping the needed treatment. In any case, never switch or discontinue your medications without consulting with your doctor first.
Another thing that can help is the treatment of any underlying eyelid disease, such as blepharitis. In doing this you might need antibiotics or steroid drops, plus frequent eyelid scrubs with an antibacterial shampoo.
If you are looking at having a LASIK surgery, please be aware that dry eyes may very well cause you to be disqualified for the surgery, at least until your dry eye condition is successfully dealt with. The dry eyes condition can increase your risk for poor healing after LASIK. Because of this, most surgeons will want to treat the dry eyes first to make sure that you have the optimal LASIK outcome. The same applies to other types of vision correction surgery as well.
To read more about the symptoms and causes of dry eyes, visit Your Eye Health.
For additional information or to schedule an appointment, please call 970-204-4020 or click on the link on the side of the page.
