Dry Eye Syndrome
Do your eyes feel dry and gritty? Itchy and burning? Are your contacts uncomfortable?
You may suffer from dry eye syndrome, a condition that is not only irritating, but also unhealthy. An estimated 19 million Americans suffer from dry eye.
Connect with a dry eye optometrist in Atlanta, Georgia.
What Is Dry Eye?
Tears and blinking are essential to eye health. Blinking protects against irritants and circulates nourishing, infection-fighting tears.
Together they protect eye tissue. Fluctuations in tear activity, quality or quantity make eyes feel red, irritated, and dry.
Many things can cause dry eye including changes to your health, viewing habits, or even the environment. Left untreated, dry eye can compromise vision and eye health.
It’s important to work with a qualified eye doctor to properly identify and treat the cause for your condition.
Leading Causes of Dry Eye
A leading culprit of dry eye is Meibomian Gland Dysfunction.
The meibomian glands create an oil essential for healthy tears. These glands can fail or become plugged, affecting tear quality and eye health.
Unfortunately, this situation can worsen with time.
Other factors can predispose you to dry eye such as your age or gender. Changes to your health, exposure to certain environmental irritants, or use of certain medicines can also affect the quality of your tears.
Schedule an appointment at Eyeclectic if your eyes are red, irritated, or uncomfortable or if you have noticed changes to your vision.
How Is Dry Eye Diagnosed and Treated?
Fortunately, there are innovative ways to diagnose and treat underlying causes of dry eye.
Eyeclectic is equipped with the OCULUS Keratograph® 5M, an advanced tool that maps eye tissue and analyzes the quality of the tear layers.
To treat the most common cause of dry eye—meibomian gland disease—we may recommend Lipiflow®, a proven and non-invasive treatment to restore the natural moisture balance to your eyes. Other treatment options include Prokera and Cliradex.
Your optometrist will recommend that best treatment plan for you. Set up an appointment today.