What is Dry Eye?
Dry eye is a condition that causes redness, burning sensations, and a scratchy or gritty feeling when blinking. Dry eye occurs when natural tears are not produced fast enough or natural tears are evaporating too quickly causing the eye to become irritated. The condition currently affects over 100 million people worldwide. Dry eye can be very painful and annoying because of the constant symptoms that have to be dealt with. On top of irritating symptoms, looking at screens like your phone, tablet, or laptop can cause symptoms to worsen. This makes life extremely difficult for those who work with computers often. We have several treatment options for dry eye patients and will make sure to give you the one that provides the fastest relief for your situation.
Treatments for Dry Eye
We perform several different treatments on patients with dry eye. After seeing one of our doctors for an examination and you are diagnosed with dry eye, we will prescribe you the treatment you need. Each one of our treatments is different and we have the capability of relieving many different severities of dry eye.
LipiFlow®
This treatment can be extremely helpful for patients with evaporated dry eye, where lipid glands get clogged allowing natural tears to dry out quickly. The LipiFlow® Thermal Pulsation system uses low levels of heat to unclog those glands on the rim of your eyelid to help prevent your tears from evaporating.
IPL Laser
This dry eye treatment uses short and powerful bursts of light at a specific wavelength to heat the skin around the meibomian glands.
Amniotic Membrane Treatment
This type of treatment uses stem cell tissues to give the eye natural regenerative properties. The Amniotic membrane is placed on the corneal surface and allowed to rejuvenate the eye for several days.
Punctal Plugs
For these treatments, your eye doctor will insert a device into your tear duct that prevents tears from escaping the eye. This medical device is very small and can hardly be seen.
Medicated Eye Drops
Xiidra® and RESTASIS® are the medicated eye drops we prescribe to some cases of dry eye. These drops are meant to be applied one to two times a day according to instruction.
Dry Eye Mask
Dry eye mask treatment involves the application of a hot compress that is placed over the eye(s) to reduce irritation.
Preservative Free Tears
Preservative free tears are lubricating eye drops that do not contain preservatives, which may cause additional irritation.
If you believe that you are suffering from dry eyes, schedule an appointment at Gulf Coast Eye Institute today. We will be more than happy to help you find an effective solution for your dry, irritated eyes.
Dry eye is more common today than ever before! More than 100 million people worldwide suffer from dry eye, which can be caused by many factors. This condition is often painful, sometimes persistent and certainly annoying.
Why So Much Dry Eye?
Computers, smartphones, video games, certain occupations – all of these things are likely to blame for the increase in dry eye symptoms. These activities interfere with quality and quantity of blinks. Not enough quality blinks means not enough natural tears, which means dry eye symptoms.
Common symptoms of dry eye include dryness, burning, grittiness, soreness, irritation and eye fatigue.
Dry eye can affect your life – at work and at home – including making it difficult to work comfortably at a computer monitor. At Gulf Coast Eye Institute, we offer a variety of treatments for dry eye depending on its source and severity. Contact us today to schedule your consultation.
