Dry Eye Relief Clinic

Your tears are made of three layers – an oily layer, a watery middle layer, and a mucus inner layer. Dry eye occurs when your eyes do not produce enough teas or make the right type of tears. As many as 1 in 5 Americans have dry eye disease. It can occur for many reasons, including other medical conditions and medication use.
 
There are 4 types of Dry Eye:

1. Obstructive – less oil reaches the surface of the eye
2. Evaporative - lipid deficient meibomian glands are not functioning well
3. Aqueous Deficient – less water/moisture reaching the surface of the eye, low tear meniscus
4. Mucin Deficient – includes conjunctival staining

An eye exam is needed to diagnose dry eye. See a dry eye doctor if you’re experiencing the following:

• Burning
• Redness
• Pain
• Excess tears followed by extreme dryness
• Blurry vision

To diagnose dry eye, we use a Topcon CA800. This allows us to visualize the tear glands in your eyelids and assess how well they’re functioning. From there, we will measure how quickly tears evaporate off of your eye.

After this, we’ll use the TearLab Osmolarity test to measure the severity of your dry eye disease to determine the best treatment option. We’ll continue to use the TearLab Osmolarity test at each follow-up appointment to measure the effectiveness of your dry eye treatment plan.

Dry eye can be caused by:

• Age (The likelihood of dry eye increases with age.)
• Medications (Some medications reduce tear production.)
• Medical conditions (Rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and thyroid issues have been linked to dry eye.)
• Environmental factors (Staring at a computer screen for long periods or being exposed to smoke, for example, can cause dry eye.)

Both physiological and environmental factors can cause dry eye. As a result, there are many ways to treat dry eye.

An eye doctor might recommend artificial tears, lid cleansing scrubs, warm compresses, punctal plugs, or prescription eye drops. Every patient is different, so every treatment plan is different.

IPL

Evans & Taylor Dry Eye Relief Clinic also uses IPL as an in-office treatment that uses high intensity pulses of light energy to treat dry eye disease. IPL is a painless method that delivers pulses of light to liquify and release oils that have hardened and clogged the glands of the eye.

IPL has been used in dermatology to treat Rosacea and in doing so, it was realized that it helps with dryness. In time it was approved as a dry eye treatment. IPL also reduces eyelid redness and stimulates healthy gland function.

The initial 4 treatments are every 2-3 weeks, and hopefully just a maintenance treatment to follow up ever 6 months to a year afterwards.

LLLT

Evans & Taylor Dry Eye Relief Clinic also uses Low Level Light Therapy to help with dry eye, which helps to stimulate an immune system response in the meibomian glands of the eyelid at the cellular level, using red to near-infrared light energy. It has been shown that LLLT increased the amount of tear volume and decreases neutrophils and the level of inflammatory cytokines significantly in non-human trials. It uses a noninvasive procedure that uses non-visible wavelengths of light and ins non-thermal, which means it does not generate heat.

For the procedure, you’ll sit in a chair while wearing a face mask that emits low level light for 15-30 minutes. After the treatment, you can go back to your usual activities right away. You will not feel any pain while wearing the LLLT mask. It carries a very low risk of side effects and complications.

Scleral Lenses (for severe dry eye)

Scleral contact lenses are large diameter, hard contact lenses that vault over the cornea and land on the white part of the eye. Before placing the lens on the eye, the lens is filled with fluid. This fluid hydrates the eyes throughout the day, resulting in precise and clear vision, profound comfort, and long-lasting hydration.

Pre-Treatment Instructions
Avoid sun exposure (apply sunscreen and do not tan at all, including self-tanner) for 4-6 weeks before and after treatments

Do not use any retinal products (or products containing tretinoin) or exfoliants on the area to be treated for one week. Avoid Accutane (or isotretinoin products) for 6 months prior.
Let your doctor know if  you have a history of hyperpigmentation.

Photosensitizing medications including doxycycline should be discontinued 3 days prior to treatment.

On the day of your appointment, come with a clean face - remove all makeup.