Four Eyes implores us… Please give me the scoop on “Dry Eye.” I enjoyed your post on eye drop addiction and I was wondering if there’s anything else you can tell me.
The Right Brain obliges:
We’re glad to help, Four! Simply stated, Dry Eye is a condition that occurs when your eye’s natural ability to produce tears is impaired. Several factors can cause this condition including exposure to a low humidity environment, aging, eye strain (from reading or working on computers!) and even some medications. Symptoms include dryness (duh!), stinging/burning sensations, a crusty discharge (yuck!) or difficulty wearing contacts.
What can you do about it?
Go check out Bausch.com for treatment tips. Basically, you can minimize the conditions that can cause drying in the first place, you can add artificial lubrication (eye drops), or (and we’re not making this up) you can have a doctor sever the canals that drain tears from your eye to your nose. The latter suggestion seems a bit harsh to us, but hey, they’re YOUR eyes.
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Dry eye can also be caused by Sjogrens Syndrome, an autoimmune disorder.
Your link didn’t work for me. When I navigated through the Baush and Lomb site to their page on dry eye, I found it laughably simple. I have suffered from dry eye for years, and a series of opthamologists have helped me manage the condition. One suggestion, depending on the cause of the dry eyes, is to use warm compresses on the eyes for ten minutes a day. This helps open fat ducts that might be closed, and keeps tears from evaporating as quickly.
The type of moisturizing drops used can be critical in making a dry eye sufferer’s day bearable. Preservative free saline in individual vials is terrific if you can buy in bulk, and there are other options with varying levels of lubricant on the market.
Other prescription options include oral antibiotics originally intended for acne or Restasis eye drops, which help increase tear production.
I have autoimmune-related dry eyes. My doctor suggested the OTC Systane drops. You can find them at Walmart or the pharmacy. They really work!