Dry Eye Disease
Treat The Cause
Individuals with moderate to severe dry eye encounter great discomfort and seek new approaches from traditional therapies, which only offer minimal symptomatic relief. Eye care physicians are equally discouraged with the restricted tools offered to properly diagnose and treat dry eye. Dry Eye Solutions at Apple Valley Vision in Payson offers a new technology to better diagnosis and treat the source of evaporative dry eye. Contact us today to learn more.
What Is Dry Eye?
Dry Eye is a long-term progressive disease that takes years to develop and may worsen if left untreated. Over 100 million people have Dry Eye.
“Dry eye is a multifactorial disease of the ocular surface characterized by a loss of homeostasis of the tear film, and accompanied by ocular symptoms, in which tear film instability and hyperosmolarity, ocular surface inflammation and damage, and neurosensory abnormalities play etiological roles.”
If you experience any of these issues you may benefit from a visit to Apple Valley Vision:
- Dryness
- Discomfort and irritation
- Grittiness or feeling of a foreign body in the eye
- Burning or stinging sensation
- Redness
- Excessive tearing or watery eyes
- Discharge
- Tiredness
- Itching
- Vision disturbance
- Sensitivity to light
What Is Evaporative Dry Eye?
Evaporative Dry Eye is a persistent disorder that can get worse over time. It occurs when the water in your tears evaporates faster than normal, due to an unsatisfactory lipid (oil) layer on the tear film of your eye. Contact us today to see if today’s technology can help you with your discomfort.
How Dry Eye Affects You
What are a few of the risk factors for Evaporative Dry Eye? Hormonal changes in women during menopause especially decreasing levels of estrogen can cause coagulation of the oils secreted by the meibomian glands, which leads to blockages. Decreased estrogen levels may enhance conditions under which staphylococcal bacteria can proliferate in the meibomian glands. This leads to a decreased oil secretion rate. Additional factors that may cause or exacerbate meibomian gland dysfunction include age, contact lens use and hygiene, cosmetic use, and illnesses, particularly diabetes.
How Dry Eye can negatively impact your vision and your life
The symptoms of Dry Eye can be uncomfortable and a big burden. Standard visual tasks, like reading, using a computer, driving or watching television may become difficult. Wearing contact lenses may be impossible. And, you might find that symptoms get worse later in the day, keeping you from enjoying the activities you want to do. Underlying the considerable discomfort is a real physical condition that needs treatment to stop the cycle of Dry Eye deterioration and worsening symptoms.
Dry Eye is a chronic disease and without proper management, the deterioration may look like this:
- Increased evaporation of tears
- Unstable tear film
- Damage to the eye surface
- Further discomfort
- Inflammation and cell damage
- Fluctuation and decrease in vision
Apple Valley Vision is proud to offer two types of treatments for Ocular Surface Disease Problems like Dry Eye to reduce your dependence on drops or maybe even eliminate them:
LipiFlow® and TempSure Envi Radiofrequency Energy Treatment.
If you’re ready to get started, call us at 801-465-0355 or click here to schedule an ocular surface exam.