Dry Eyes

What are the symptoms of Dry Eye?

The symptoms of dry eyes can vary from patient to patient but include burning sensation, foreign body sensation (feeling like sand is in the eye), intermittent blurring of vision that clears with blinking, eye redness, photophobia, sensitivity to airflow, and even excess tearing.

 

What causes Dry Eye?

The causes of dry eye can be broken down into two main categories.  Category one is referred to as aqueous deficient dry eye.  Aqueous deficient dry eye is caused by a lack of tear production by the eye's tear glands. Category two is called evaporative dry eye. As the name implies, evaporative dry eye is caused by the eye's existing tears evaporating too fast.

 

How are Dry Eyes treated?

There are many different dry eye treatments ranging from the application of artificial tears, to the placement of small plugs in the tear ducts preventing the existing tears from draining out of the eye, to prescription eye medications such as restasis which, in some cases, can help the tear glands produce more tears.