Dry eye syndrome is a common condition that affects as many as 10 million people in the United States. Symptoms of dry eye syndrome include burning and an itchy or scratchy sensation, like having sand or grit in your eyes. Many people with dry eye syndrome have intermittent blurry vision that temporarily improves with rapid blinking. There are many causes of dry eye syndrome, but in general, the condition occurs because your tears are either abnormal or they are evaporating from your eye’s surface too quickly.
Dry eye syndrome is often a nuisance, and in some cases, can lead to scarring of the eye’s surface with loss of vision. There are several treatments available. These range from simple lifestyle modifications to prescription medications, depending on the severity of the condition.
If you have mild dry eyes, you may be able to improve your symptoms just by changing your environment. Sitting too close to a heating or air conditioning vent exposes your eyes to a constant flow of forced air, which can make tears evaporate too quickly. If your eyes don’t produce enough tears or don’t produce healthy tears, there are tear replacements available. These artificial tears are sold over the counter in most drugstores and grocery stores. If your symptoms are mild to moderate, putting artificial tears into your eyes two to four times daily often helps relieve your symptoms.
If the artificial tears are not effective for your dry eyes, you may benefit from a treatment we offer here at Center for Sight called Lipiflow. The Lipiflow system combines heat and pressure therapy for adults patients with evaporative dry eyes. By doing so it opens the blocked glands which allows your body to resume its natural production of lipid or oil for the tear film. There are no other dry eye therapies that can do what Lipiflow Thermal Pulsation System can.
Lipiflow is clinically proven with documented results. In a clinical study about 79% of patients had tremendous improvement in their overall dry eye symptoms after a single treatment. You may need to have this treatment done periodically as your symptoms may return over time.
If you have dry eye symptoms, call us at 916-446-2020 to schedule an office visit. Based on your lifestyle and the severity of your symptoms, Dr. Liang will be happy to work with you to design a treatment plan to make your eyes comfortable.
