Grande Prairie Eye Doctor
What is dry eye?
It is estimated that almost 90% of Albertans experience symptoms of dry eye. Very few ever really think to visit their optometrist to have the problem looked at.
Dry eye is very common and can lead to discomfort and if left untreated, it can lead to corneal damage.
Symptoms of dry eye
- Red eyes
- Burning/stinging sensation
- Blurry vision
- Tired eyes
- A gritty, forgein body sensation
- Sensitivity to light
- Increased sensitivity to glare at night
- Itchy/scratchy eyes
- Sudden excessive watering
Causes of dry eye
To understand the causes we need to have a quick look at how the tear film is made up:
There are 3 layers: an oily outer layer, with a water layer in the middle and at the bottom a mucous layer.
In a dry eye, we see an imbalance in the layers and this causes a tear film dysfunction.
Perhaps the eye is not producing enough tears so there is not enough moisture and lubrication, other times there might not be enough tear volume. Or the oily layer is poor and so the tears evaporate too quickly.
| Tear Volume: | Tear Quality |
| The glands around our eyes produce the watery part of our tears and as we get older, we make less tears. Add to that the dry environment we live in, some medical conditions and even some medications all make for a lowered tear volume. |
The 3 layers are important here:
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Dry eye is not curable, but we are able to diagnose what the root cause is likely to be and help you by treating and managing the disease.
A Targeted Dry Eye Assessment
As we have seen, there are several causes of dry eye disease. To help us determine what your underlying cause is, Dr Shonah and her team perform a comprehensive dry eye assessment using cutting-edge technology to tailor a treatment and management plan that are personalized to your unique needs.
Treatment depends on the causes we find:
Allergies or dry environments may call for drops but other times we need to get more in depth with our treatment plan. If meibomian gland dysfunction is found to be a cause, then we may have to provide treatment with the iLux
