If your vision starts to go blurry while staring at your computer or phone screen and blinking helps alleviate the issue, then you may have dry eye syndrome (scientific name keratoconjunctivitis sicca).
Dry eye syndrome is typically caused by blocked meibomian glands, which are tiny glands in your eyelids that excrete oil onto the surface of the eye when you blink. Without this oil, your tears evaporate 4 to 16 times faster causing irritation on the surface of the eye. With the increasing daily use of computers, mobile phones, and tablets, people are just not blinking as often. This is causing an increase in the number of people with dry eye syndrome.
An ophthalmologist can help determine the cause and severity of dry eye with a few painless tests. Ophthalmologist Thomas Henderson, M.D. explains, “New tests have become available which improve the accuracy and specificity of diagnosis within dry eye. Tear osmolarity, Inflamadry, Sjo, and LipivIew now enable us to make objective judgments of dryness, inflammation, and early Sjogren’s disease. Lipiview enables us to make objective judgments about meibomian gland oil deficiency and the severity of partial blinking. Taken as a whole, these represent the best way to understand the nature and severity of any dry eye problem. As always, correct diagnosis leads most often to the correct treatment.”
There are many different types of treatment that alleviate the symptoms of dry eye including lubricating the eye with topical artificial tears, a prescription eye drop, or LipiFlow treatment. LipiFlow by TearScience® relieves meibomian gland blockage by applying a combination of directed heat and pulsation pressure to the eyelid. It’s described as a “spa treatment” for the eye and only takes 12 minutes per eye.
Eye Clinic of Austin uses the most advanced technology to diagnose and treat dry eye, including LipiFlow. Schedule a dry eye assessment to determine if you are suffering from dry eye syndrome.