Dry Eyes - The Facts, the Causes and the Treatments

By Julian Berson

Dry eye, as the name says, is an uncomfortable state of eyes, in which the eyes are constrained to lose tears. There's a special layer possessed by human eyes, known as tear film, which is answerable for creating tears. In the dry eye syndrome, this film is disabled to work appropriately to secrete the specified quantity of tears. The indicators of dry eye include burning and itching sensation, pain in eyes, wrong vision, tear discharge while watching Television, stringing eye muscles and pain with contact lenses.

What Leads To Dry Eye

Dry eye is caused due to a bunch of elements related to age, place of living, job and activities carried out by the patient and many more. Some of the most serious factors behind dry eye include:

- Old age, in which less oil is produced by body
- Polluted environment having excess of smoke particles
- Use of contact lenses
- A number of sicknesses like Sjogren's Syndrome and rheumatism
- Stressful working, especially on PC
- Dry heat and air conditioning units that soak away the tears from eye surface

Dry Eye Treatment - The Options Available

In case, you experience dry eye syndrome, you should consult an optometrist to understand about diverse dry eye treatment options available. First of all, it is imperative to diagnose the level of dry eye syndrome before starting the dry eye treatment. For this purpose, you will follow any one of the following tests:

1. Shimmer Test - In this test, pieces of paper are put on the lower eyelid to look at the quantity of tears available in your eyes.

2. Tear Break Up Test - In this test, a solution is pored in the eye to understand the process of tear emission.

The commonest dry eye treatment options include:

- Drinking a large amount of water
- Avoid sitting in front of fan and air conditioner
- Avoid places having extraordinary climate conditions
- Blinking the eyes more often
- Wear wrap-around glasses to avoid heat and air
- Avoid smoking
- Scrub the eyelids with hot water and mild shampoo

The products that might provide assistance in dry eye treatment include:

- Punctal Plugs - These are made of collagen or silicon and block the drainage system of eyes to preserve tears in the eyes.
- Vitamin A medicines - As we all know, Vitamin An is required for eyes, so most optometrists suggest Vitamin A medicines like BioTears for dry eye treatment.
- Synthesised Tears Generators - There are a bunch of products around in market that may help the eyes to produce synthesised drops. For instance, Autologous Platelet-rich Plasma eye drops are found to very efficient in this direction.
- Restasis - This is the ophthalmic eye drop that helps with reducing the swelling round the eye channels carrying mucin and lipids.
- Other products include flax seed oil, lubricating gels and antibiotics that are recommended by the optometrist.

Along with these prescribed medicines, one must focus upon eating sensibly by consuming foods rich in Minerals and Vitamins. You can consult your local optometrist to get advised on the food items to be consumed as one part of dry eye treatment.

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