Causes of Dry Eye

Dry eye can manifest itself with a number of symptoms from pain and redness to heavy eyelids to an inability to cry. Blurred vision is a particularly concerning symptom of dry eye because while it is often a result of tear film dehydration, blurred vision can also be a symptom of other, more serious, medical conditions. Blurred vision is not a medical condition but is instead a symptom of underlying problems. It is associated with glaucoma, cataracts and macular degeneration, all of which must be seriously controlled. While it is very possible that your blurred vision is simply due to dry eye, checking with your doctor to make sure is always a wise idea, especially if the blurred vision continues as you properly treat your dry eye.

When is Dry Eye the Likely Culprit?

Before you visit your doctor, it is a good idea to think critically about your symptoms. Does your blurred vision worsen at the end of the day? Does it come and go? It is exacerbated after long periods in front of the computer of concentrating on a book? Does it improve when you blink liberally? Affirmative answers to these questions generally indicate that your dry eye syndrome might be to blame.

Why Does Dry Eye Cause Blurred Vision?

The tear film is important to protecting and lubricating the cornea, which transmits light. Dry eye sufferers have poor tear film quality and this can affect the transmission of light to the retina. When dry eye leads to dry spots on the cornea, blurred vision is a common result. Poor tear film moisture can also increase chances of bacteria growth and allergies, which can result in itchy and watery eyes and subsequent blurred vision.

What Else Could It Be?

If you don’t think dry eye is to blame, and you aren’t experiencing symptoms of glaucoma, cataracts or macular degeneration, here are some other potential explanations for your blurred vision. Migraine sufferers often report experiencing blurred vision just before experiencing a headache. Also, studies have shown that certain drugs, including heart medications, blood pressure medicine, and oral contraceptives can cause blurred vision. Ask your doctor if blurred vision is a side effect of any medication you might be taking. Very often, blurred vision is simply an indicator that you might need corrective lenses, or a new prescription if you are also wearing glasses or contacts. In any case, conversation with your doctor needs to occur if bothersome blurriness is impacting your life. Dry eye might be a factor, but it’s important to consider all options in order to maximize your chances of successful treatment.

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Solutions for Make-up Wearers with Dry Eye

Many wearers of cosmetic make-up report experiencing discomfort or irritation in their eyes. This discomfort can at times be exacerbated by sleep-deprivation, long computer usage, drinking, and smoking, and also by the increased allergens in the springtime.

Solution #1: Formulated Eye Drops
There are many solutions to this problem. The first solution is to apply eye drops formulated for treating dry eyes. According to dry eye experts, the best technique is to apply these drops when not wearing make-up. If there is make-up on the eyelid when drops are applied, this may cause additional irritation as the make-up and eye drops are mixed together and flow back into the eyes.

Solution #2: Eyelid Cleansing Wipes
Even after you clean the make-up off of your eyelids there may still be remaining make-up residue. For example, try the lid scrubs produced by OCuSOFT, the #1 doctor recommended brand.

Solution #3: Healthy Make-up Habits
These make-up strategies come from dry eye experts and are applicable to all make-up wearers, even those without dry eye:

• don't share make up
• throw make-up out after 3 months
• clean face before applying make-up
• remove make-up before going to sleep
• avoid glitter or powder (they worsen irritation to the eyes)

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Why Can LASIK Lead To Dry Eye

Why Can LASIK Lead to Dry Eyes?

LASIK and other vision correction procedures involve penetration of the eye surface, which can lead to reduced corneal nerve sensitivity. Dry eye can result if your eyes struggle to sense when they need to produce tear lubrication after the surgery.

Who Is Most At Risk?

Dry eye is a common side effect of LASIK surgery for both people who suffer from the condition before the procedure and those who have never experienced dry eye. However, those with higher degrees of myopia tend to be more at risk for dry eye because these patients require a deeper removal of corneal tissue to reshape the eye. More significantly, for 25% of patients, dry eye symptoms are found to persist for up to six months after surgery. Older age, certain allergies, autoimmune diseases can also contribute to dry eye, so patients who fit these criteria should be extra aware of the potential dry eye side effects of these procedures.

If any of these risk factors apply to you and you are suffering from dry, sore, itchy or watery eyes, make sure to see your physician to find out the root cause.  

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The Future of Dry Eye Therapy

While the majority of dry eye cases can be treated just by using over the counter eye drops, for the select severe cases, more drastic treatment is necessary. Thankfully, recent progress in the field of dry eye research has produced several promising alternative treatment procedures that may provide lasting relief to patients suffering from severe dry eye symptoms.

One of the more well-publicized new alternative treatment has been Lipiflow by TearScience. Lipiflow works by applying heat and gentle pressure to the inner eyelids in order to unclog the meibomian glands. This technique can produce significant improvement in cases of evaporative dry eye since insufficient lipid layer on the tear film is often the key to the condition. Best of all, the treatment is FDA approved, meaning health insurance coverage is a likely possibility.

Intense Pulsed Light therapy works in a similar way to Lipiflow. IPL aim to eliminate bloated, inflammatory blood vessels in the lower eyelid and unplug the necessary oil glands. The result can be significant and patients often report dramatic improvement in the severity of their dry eye symptoms.

Along with Lipiflow and IPL, there has been advances made in the field of at home treatments. Mucosta ophthalmic suspension UD2% is a new drug launched by Acucela and Otsuka Pharmaceutical. The drug has a new mechanism of action which increase the level of mucin in the tear covering conjunctiva and cornea. If effective, Mucosta will stabilize the tear film and lessen the amount of corneal-conjunctival damage associated with dry eye.

Retaine® MGD™ Ophthalmic Emulsion by OCuSOFT is a revolutionary new type of eye drop that stay within the eye. It uses Novagali’s Novasorb technology to bind positively charged ions within the artificial tear to the negatively charged ocular surface. This ensures that the product will be spread in an “optimal, uniform and comfortable way across the entire ocular surface”, improving retention time and user comfort.

The treatment options listed above are just some of the new dry eye therapies that are currently out in the market. Many more are likely to be in the pipeline, awaiting results for tests and clinical trials. There seem to be a general trend that in recent dry eye research to focus more on the root of the condition, aka problem with the patient’s tear film. This is great news for people suffering from severe dry eye who need extra help.

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Could Dry Eye Be Making Your Migraines Worse?

While there isn’t sufficient research to prove a connection between dry eye and migraines, some studies suggest that the two may be related. Thinking logically, such a connection would make sense. We tend to react to dry eye symptoms by rubbing, itching, and squinting. All of these activities increase pressure around and behind the eyes, which in turn could aggravate headaches.

So what does the research say? A research study called “Dry Eyes and Migraines: Is There Really a Correlation” found that dry eye disease occurs more frequently in patients who experience migraine headaches than in non-migraine patients. Of course, correlation does not equal causation, but this research supports the hypothesis that migraine attacks may be worsened or set off by dry eye symptoms.

Dry eye symptoms alone are bothersome. If these symptoms are setting off migraine headaches too, they might seriously limit and affect day to day activities. So what can you do? Pinpointing the root of your dry eye symptoms is a good place to start. If your symptoms are seasonal, your dry eye may be a result of allergies, which proper treatment can control. Check out your pharmacy for options or consult your doctor. If you wear contact lenses, consider how your specific type of lenses may be contributing to your dry eye. Check out our article here to read more about how your choice of contact lenses and lens cleaning routine affects your symptoms. Often, however, dry eye has little to do with lens use or allergies. Many patients suffer from blepharitis, inflammation of the eyelid, which cause worrisome dry eye symptoms. Proper eyelid hygiene is the answer to this problem. Consider investing in eye drops, liposome sprays, and lid scrubs to combat your symptoms. Occusoft offers an impressive line of products that get to the root of your problem so you can find relief. Regardless of the root of your dry eye, EyeEco’s Tranquileyes product uses soft, flexible goggles to offer eye hydrating therapy. The goggles create a humid, warm environment that stimulates tear production and slows the evaporation of tears. By combating the root of your dry eye symptoms, and finding relief, you can prevent pressure build up behind the eyes that might be triggering your migraines.

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LASIK Patients: Remain on the Lookout for Dry Eye

Why Can LASIK Lead to Dry Eyes?

LASIK and other vision correction procedures involve penetration of the eye surface, which can lead to reduced corneal nerve sensitivity. Dry eye can result if your eyes struggle to sense when they need to produce tear lubrication after the surgery.

Who Is Most At Risk?

Dry eye is a common side effect of LASIK surgery for both people who suffer from the condition before the procedure and those who have never experienced dry eye. However, those with higher degrees of myopia tend to be more at risk for dry eye because these patients require a deeper removal of corneal tissue to reshape the eye. More significantly, for 25% of patients, dry eye symptoms are found to persist for up to six months after surgery. Older age, certain allergies, autoimmune diseases can also contribute to dry eye, so patients who fit these criteria should be extra aware of the potential dry eye side effects of these procedures.

So What Should You Do?

Doctors often recommend that patients attempt to treat current dry eye conditions before undergoing LASIK. In addition, doctors may recommend that even patients with normal tear production use dry eye treatments as a preventative measure before surgery. People with and without dry eye might be encouraged to take fish oil supplements in the weeks before surgery in order to improve the tear film. MedOp carries a product called MaxiTears containing Omega-3 fish oils that is specifically formulated for dry eye sufferers looking to improve their tear production. After surgery, patients might find relief by using EyeEco’s soft flexible goggles called Tranquileyes. The product comes with reusable gel packs to be used within the goggles that provide eye hydrating therapy to soothe and restore dry, tired eyes. The goggles create a humid, warm environment around the eyes to helps stimulate tear production and slow the evaporation of tears. Of course, dry eye relief may be found through a number of options. For ideas on how to combat dry eye, especially during these summer months, check out our blog "Beat Your Dry Eye This Summer". 

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Makeup Application for Those Affected by Dry Eye

Women are three times more likely to be affected by dry eye than men. This is partially due to hormonal changes in our body to the fact that we are constantly putting foreign bodies into our eyes via eye makeup. Fortunately, there are tricks and tips you can follow to make sure those smoky eyes do not become rabbit eyes by the end of the night.

 

If you suffer from severe dry eye, avoiding eye makeup completely may be the safest option. However, this does not mean that you cannot have beautiful nude eyes. A little bit of attention to the rest of your makeup can do wonders. Instead of using mascara, consider how an eyelash curler can give you that full lash look without the irritation. The right shade of lipstick and blush can also help to emphasize your eyes without going anywhere near them. You can keep your lipstick look relatively natural while still bringing an element of drama to your face. Go for an after-exercise flush when applying blush.

If you only suffer from mild to moderate dry eye and would still  like to wear eye makeup, consider these tips. Avoid powder eye shadow in favor of creams as powder can travel and irritate the eyes while cream eye shadow will stick in place. If you choose to use liquid eye shadow, eyeliners, and/or mascara, make sure the product is alcohol free. Also, do not use waterproof makeup. The traditional methods for removing waterproof makeup such as Vaseline and baby oil will leave residue around the eyelid and this residue is then spread all over the eye. Also, do not ever share eye makeup or use expired items. Cross contamination is a real problem and with dry eye, even the tiniest infection can become a big cause for concern. 

Once you have the appropriate eye makeup, follow the tricks below to minimize possible discomfort during and after application. If you are using Restasis or other types of natural eye drops, shoot to apply these a half an hour before you do your makeup. Moist eyes will help to make the process as pain free as possible. When using mascara, make sure to apply from the tips rather than from the root of your lashes. In general, you should make sure to avoid the lid margin when applying any type of eye make up.

The last and most important step for dry eye sufferers (and those without dry eyes) is cleansing. Proper makeup removal is absolutely key to preventing irritation. Ocusoft lid scrubs are currently one of the best products on the market for dry eye makeup removal. Ocusoft offers products that come in both bottled liquid and pad forms. The product is gentle enough for daily use and will not irritate the eyelids. It is both lint and fragrance free so you can be sure that it will not worsen your dry eye condition. Pick up Ocusoft products at your local drug store or ask your eye doctor for a sample. The company is even now offering specialized mascara for dry eye sufferers!

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