Cosmetic Eye Surgery

Dry Eyes

Overview

Dry Eye is defined as a reduction in the eye's ability to produce sufficient natural tears.

Tear production is vital to your eye because it produces a film, called the tear film,  which covers the surface of the eye. This film is responsible for providing the cornea (the transparent part of the eye that covers the pupil and iris) with nutrients, oxygen and protection from infection.

Insufficient tear production can lead to pain, irritation and possibly scarring of the cornea.

View the Dry Eyes powerpoint presentation

Treatment

Depending on the cause, Dry Eyes can be treated as a temporary problem or a long-term condition. Either way, tears must be conserved or supplemented in order to provide relief.

Short Term Treatments
For less severe cases of dry eye syndrome, the use of artificial tears, or eye drops, is the best treatment option. Unfortunately, prolonged use of eye drops can actually worsen the dry eye symptoms due to preservatives manufacturers use when making eye drops. In situations of chronic dry eye syndrome, eye drops are not recommended.

Long Term Treatments
Chronic dry eye syndrome is treated by conserving your natural tears rather than supplementing them with artificial tears. This is done by either narrowing or closing the natural tear duct. This will conserve your precious natural tears and will eliminate the need for eye drops.

If your dry eye has a dominant evaporative component to its cause, the case for closing the tear ducts is not clear-cut. In these cases temporary dissolvable plugs are sometimes used.

A cotton bud soaked with anaesthetic is held over the tear duct and a tiny dissolvable collagen plug is painlessly inserted into your lower tear duct. The entire procedure is performed in an optometrist's office in a few minutes. Many patients report immediate comfort.

Collagen plugs dissolve within one week. If during this test period you experience relief from dry eye symptoms, you may wish to proceed with the long-term comfort afforded by permanent tear duct closure.

Closing the tear drainage ducts makes a lot of sense. In effect your own natural tears treat your own dry condition. Unless you have purely evaporative dry eye, plugs will help - its just a question of by how much. Some patients find they can stop using eye drops altogether.

Punctal occlusion, the medical name for closing the tear duct, can be achieved by:

• Laser - Not Reversible
• Cautersation - Not Reversible
• Non-dissolvable plugs - Reversible

Punctal plugs can be compared to a stopper in a sink. Placing a tiny silicone insert into the tear duct prevents precious tears from being lost. As the tear reservoir builds - the self lubricating process begins.

Plugs are the least invasive of the long-term solutions to dry eye with a very high rate of success. They can be inserted easily and painlessly and are medically inert. They can easily be removed if too much tearing is produced in the event your dry eye condition improves at a later date. They are ideal in contact lens cases.

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The Eye Centers of Racine and Kenosha provide the on-line information above solely for educational and communication purposes. Nothing contained on the site should be misconstrued as personal medical advice. None of the information published on the Eye Center website is intended to replace, supplement, or augment a medical visit with or medical advice from an eye care professional concerning the medical care of the viewer / user of the site. The Eye Centers of Racine and Kenosha disclaim any and all liability for injury or other damages resulting from the use of any information obtained from this website.

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