Tears play an important part in keeping your eyes in good health. Not only do they moisturize your eyes, but they also wash away surface debris to prevent irritations. Failure of your eyes to produce tears at healthy levels or of right consistencies may result in dry eye disease.
Guilford Eye Center, your leading provider of contact lenses and other eye care, talks about this condition in detail.
What Causes Dry Eyes?
Dry eye syndrome is a common problem among older individuals, especially among post-menopausal women. Hormonal changes that happen along with increasing age may cause an imbalance in the quality of your tears. Your air conditioner, heater and climate may also cause your tears to easily dry up. This may happen as a complication of other conditions like Meibomian Gland Dysfunction.
Some medications, such as antihistamines, have dry eyes as one of their side-effects. Not being able to close your eyelids fully or staring at your device screens for a long time may lead to this problem as well. Dry eyes may cause a gritty feeling as if something’s in your eye. Eye itchiness and redness are common, too. More severe cases may result in blurry vision and increased light sensitivity. Having any of these symptoms indicates the need to visit Drs. Thurmond and Wood at your trusted eye care center as soon as possible.
How Are Dry Eyes Managed?
Drs. Thurmond and Wood perform comprehensive dry eye evaluations that include measuring the thickness of your lipid layer and the completeness of your blink. Upon confirming you have dry eyes, we may prescribe artificial tear drops to improve your eyes’ lubrication. You should also increase your fluid intake. Adding deepwater fish to your diet can help as well. They are rich in omega-3 essential fatty acids that can help keep your eyes moisturized.
For chronic dry eyes, we may recommend the LipiFlow® treatment. It’s an FDA-approved device that uses thermal pulsation to improve lubrication in your eyes. As the activator is massaged over your eyes, the combination of the vectored heat and the gentle therapeutic pressure breaks up clogs in your tears ducts. As a result, you’ll have improved tear outflow. A LipiFlow session takes around 12 minutes per eye, and you’ll experience optimal results usually within six to eight weeks.
To learn more about dry eyes and LipiFlow, call us at (336) 387-6777, or complete our form. We serve High Point and nearby North Carolina areas.
