Dry Eye Syndrome: Play your Cards Right
Dry eye syndrome is an uncomfortable condition that affects more than 20 million Americans. If you are one of them, you know the challenge of playing the cards you’re dealt. When dry eyes flare up, there are certain steps that must be followed to improve comfort. Getting the results you want means that you have played your cards right. Let’s look at how you can do that.
Card Number One: Attribution
The logical first step in addressing dry eye symptoms is to attribute them to some other condition. Your eyes are itchy, red, and watery because of your contact lenses. You feel a foreign body sensation because you aren’t blinking enough when you’re working at the computer. This kind of assumptions lead dry eye sufferers to ditch their contact lenses for a few days; it may even lead them to take a short break from technology. It may not, however, resolve the issue.
Card Number Two: Eye Drops
Eye drops can easily seem like the perfect solution to dry, itchy eyes. After all, the obvious issue at hand is a lack of lubrication! At first, dry eye sufferers tend to achieve their desired improvement and comfort when they use lubricating eye drops. In many situations, however, these people find that results last only a short time.
Card Number Three: Turning up the Heat
There is the valid reason to believe that warm compresses can improve the symptoms of dry eye syndrome. In many cases, this approach does alleviate discomfort. Like eye drops, however, this is short-lived because the cause of dryness is not successfully corrected.
Throwing down the Ace
To win the game against dry eye syndrome, it is necessary to play the right card. This requires an accurate assessment of your opponent. In many cases, dry eye syndrome results from a blockage in the meibomian glands located in the eye. With that in mind, researchers have developed ways to unblock these glands and restore optimal tear production that contains adequate levels of both aqueous fluid and oil.
We are here to help you with your concerns related to vision and eye health with treatment designed around YOU. Give The Eye Associates Meridian office a call at 208-342-5151 to schedule your consultation. You can reach our Caldwell office at 208-459-0717.