Although dry eye is a common eye condition, it should be taken seriously. Over time, severe dry eye symptoms can adversely affect your eye health and vision. Dry eye occurs when your eye glands don’t produce sufficient tears to lubricate your eyes. As a result, your eyes become dry, irritated, and itchy. At Eye Site in Katy and Houston, we can diagnose dry eye through a dilated eye exam and recommend appropriate treatment.
Signs of Dry Eye
Anyone can develop dry eye syndrome, but it’s more common among seniors as tear production tends to slow down with age. Less tear production can lead to dry, itchy eyes. Additional signs of this condition include:
• Stinging or burning eyes
• A feeling that something’s stuck in your eye
• Eye redness and irritation
• Blurred vision
• Sensitivity to light
• Watery eyes as your eye glands overproduce tears to compensate for the dryness
Causes of Dry Eye Syndrome
Ideally, your eye glands should produce sufficient, quality tears to keep your eyes lubricated and moist. Dry eye can occur when something interferes with tear production, causing a lack of tears or poor-quality tears that evaporate too quickly to do their job. Age is one of the main factors that can interfere with tear production as your eyes produce fewer tears in your senior years. Tear production can also be affected by certain medications and health issues, your environment, eye conditions and diseases, eye surgery, and not blinking enough when using digital devices.
If you’re experiencing symptoms of dry eye, talk to your Katy and Houston, TX optometrist so we can perform dry eye testing. We’ll dilate your eyes and assess your tear production, focusing on the quantity of tears produced, their quality, and how long tears remain before evaporating. We’ll also assess your eye health and eyelid structure to diagnose problems that may be contributing to your dry eye symptoms.
Dry Eye Treatment
There are numerous options for treating dry eye, the most common being:
• OTC artificial tears for managing mild symptoms
• Prescription eye drops to stimulate tear production to counter the effects of dry eye
• Tear duct plugs, aka punctal plugs, to keep tears from evaporating or draining so quickly
• Lifestyle changes like altering your environment, spending less time on digital devices, or changing medication that’s contributing to dry eye symptoms
There’s no permanent cure for dry eye. Through dry eye treatment, your optometrist in Katy and Houston can minimize symptoms to protect your eye health and vision.
Visit Our Eye Clinic in Katy or Houston, TX
To schedule a consultation for dry eye, contact Eye Site in Katy at 281-644-2010 or Memorial at 713-984-9144 at your earliest convenience.