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Dry Eyes

Find out what's causing your dry eye and get the problem corrected.

What is dry eye therapy?

Occasional eye dryness is a fact of life for most of us. For some, however, dry eye syndrome is more than an occasional annoyance — it’s a medical problem with potentially serious consequences, one that requires the services of a skilled Medina optometrist. If you think you may need dry eye treatment in Medina, Maple Grove or Plymouth, then you owe it to yourself to look into the diagnostic and treatment options available from out dry eye doctor at Complete Eye Care of Medina. Our Medina optometrist can find out what’s causing your dryness and arm you with the right methods to correct the problem.

Overview

Under normal circumstances, the front surface of the eye is protected by a consistent tear film. This film is made up of three different layers, a water layer, a mucus layer and an oil layer. All three of the substances must be present in the right balance to create a properly hydrating, lubricating and nourishing film for the cornea and sclera (“white”) of the eye. Unfortunately, variety of factors or triggers can disturb this delicate balance.

Symptoms

Dry Eye FAQ

Common Causes

Environment:

High winds, extremely dry air or airborne irritants can cause your tear film to evaporate too quickly. Allergens and indoor air quality at work or home can also compromise normal tear function.

Diseases:

Certain diseases such as Sjogren's syndrome and other auto-immune diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus and Multiple Sclerosis, can cause chronic dryness of the eyes and mucous membranes. Diabetes and chronic allergies can also increase the risk for developing dry eye.

Medications:

Many medications, from blood pressure medicines and birth control pills to antihistamines, can have a drying effect on the tissues, including the eyes.

Lifestyle and Work Habits:

If you spend many hours looking at computer monitors or mobile device screens, you don't blink as frequently. Since blinking triggers tear formation, computer users often suffer from dry eyes. Long-term consequences of this continual situation leads to oil gland blockages, further exacerbating dry eye disease.

Lipiflow unclogs the blocked oil glands in your eyelids, returning tear function back to normal.

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Treatment Options

IPL

Relief from dry eyes caused by skin, oil gland and eyelid inflammation. Lumenis IPL treatment includes pulses of light that are applied to the skin and stimulate the body’s natural healing process. The procedure treats the inflammation in the blood vessels in and around the eyes. The inflammation can harm the oil glands that moisturize our tears as well as the eyelids. The procedure is fast and with little to no downtime, creating an easy, yet effective, treatment that targets the underlying causes of many patients’ dry eye disease.

Lipiflow

Lipiflow is a heat treatment for Meibomian Gland Dysfunction. You may have head that clogged oil glands are part of the problem for dry eyes. Lipiflow helps to remove these blockages in a warm, soothing way. LipiFlow treatment deals directly with the most common root cause of dry eye disease. It provides a warm and gentle heat to the eyelids while simultaneously applying a gentle massage.

This combination effectively removes the blockages in the meibomian glands and allows them to secrete the clogged oil. After a session of LipiFLow treatment, the glands will be able to resume its natural production of oil for the tear film. With sufficient oil layer in the tear film, the tear won’t evaporate too fast anymore, ensuring a healthier, comfortable surface of the eyes.

One session can offer significant relief to patients suffering from dry eyes and MGD.

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