Dry Eye Care
If your eyes frequently tear, feel irritated, or feel tired after reading and computer work, you may be suffering from dry eye disease. Your tears have many components all working together to keep your eyes healthy and comfortable, and if one or all of these parts are not functioning well you may develop dry eye disease. Many people have a low grade inflammation of their eyelids, have poor function of their oil producing Meibomian glands, or simply do not make enough tears to keep their eyes healthy. While unfortunately there is no cure for dry eye disease, after a careful evaluation of your ocular surface, our physicians can prescribe custom treatments tailored to helping improve the health and comfort of your eyes.
First line of treatment
The first step in treating most dry eye disease is using simple conservative therapies to help relieve your eye irritation as noninvasively as possible. This usually includes supplementing your existing tear film with artificial tear eye drops, and warm compresses on the lids to help encourage better flow of the oil glands. When these first line measures are not enough, there are several options for additional therapies and procedures depending on the nature of your dry eye disease which our physicians will guide you through.
Procedures
BlephEx
At our office we offer the Blephex procedure to help quickly and painlessly remove the debris and bacteria contributing to eyelid inflammation. This type of eyelid inflammation is more commonly called blepharitis, and removing the built up debris and bacteria is one of the most effective ways to treat this component of dry eye disease.
Lipiflow
Our office was one of the first in Michigan to offer the Lipiflow procedure to our patients to help with the oil gland dysfunction component of their dry eye. The natural tear film depends on the oils made by your eyelids to prevent your tears from evaporating, and poor function of the oil glands is frequently a large part of the overall dry eye problem. Lipiflow works by painlessly applying gentle warmth and pressure to both sides of the eyelids to unplug the oil glands and improve their ability to flow. This in turn will help maintain your natural tears on your eye for longer periods of time and promote a healthier ocular surface.