Dry eyes can be caused by many things: from too much “screen time” being on your computer or tablet, to auto-immune conditions. There is a 30% incidence in dry eye in people over age 50. There are three layers to the eye tears that protect our eyes; water, oil and mucous. In conditions where tears evaporate too quickly, this is often due to a lack of the oil layer. The water layer being deficient occurs in about 80% of people with dry eyes. There are now artificial tears which include an oil layer. Prescription eye drops can also offer great benefit especially when there is an autoimmune cause for the dry eye. The eye drop chosen depends on the reason for the dry eye and this can be properly assessed by an optometrist or ophthalmologist.
A helpful website to assess your dry eye is: www.dryeyedisease.ca. The Canadian Dry Eye Assessment Tool is included on this site.
Stay tuned for our next blog where we will discuss patients who suffer from dry nose and treatment options.