What Is Keratoconus?
What is Ophthalmology?
What Is Dry Eye?
Tear is continuously produced by lacrimal glands, albeit in small amounts, and it equally spreads to eye surface in every blink.Thus, a tear film layer is always present on anterior surface of eye and it protects the eye from microbes, feeds the eye and ensures that its surface remains moisturized, slippery and smooth.
If the tear which should be produced continuously cannot be produced in sufficient amount or its quality or composition is deteriorated or amount of tear decreases due to excess vaporization; this condition is called ''dry eye''. Reflex tear production in excessive amounts (crying, foreign body) is maintained normally in those cases.
Causes of Dry Eye
Dry eye is more common in women around 50 years of age and in postmenopausal period.Tear production decreases as the person agesTear production decreases as the person ages.he amount of fat secreted from tear glands also decreases with aging. Thus,the tear is vaporized more than normal. As a result the tear amount decreases and it stays on the eye surface for a shorter time.
Dry eyes can be related to other diseases, especially connective tissue and thyroid diseases. Sjögen's syndrome, an autoimmune disorder, is associated with dry eye, dry mouth and arthritis.
Eye-related causes, diseases of eyelids and eye surface and ophthalmic surgeries, especially refractive (laser) surgery can cause dry eyes.
Certain medications (antidepressants, diuretic agents, beta blockers, antihistaminic agents,analgesics) and certain eye drops can also cause dry eye.
Warm and windy environments where tear vaporization increases, air conditioners, harmful sun rays, high-altitude associated with low oxygen pressure ( flight cabin), and smoking are environmental factors that contribute to the development of dry eye.
Long-term reading, watching TV and intensive computer use can also cause dry eye in late hours of a day.Use of computer worsens the dry eye, as besides other factors, the frequency of blinking that spreads the tear on eye surface decreases with computer use.
Symptoms of Dry Eye
Patients complain of burn, irritation, redness, accumulation of a sticky secretion in eye, intermittent blurred vision that improves with blinking, tiredness of eyes, feeling the eyes heavy, difficulty in use of contact lenses and sometimes excess watering (reflex watering).Complaints worsen with long-term reading, watching TV or use of computer.
Diagnosis of Dry Eye
In the eye exam, the tear film appears thin in the biomicroscope. We establish the definitive diagnosis with various tests that determine the amount of tear (Schiermer test); quality of tear and duration of its stay on eye surface (BUT: Break Up Time).
Special dyes are dropped and strips are placed on the eye to determine the damage on the eye surface, caused by dryness.
Treatment of Dry Eye
We recommend the patients to avoid environmental factors that worsen dryness in the eye and to humidify the environments they stay in. Closed margins of spectacle frames can protect the eye from the drying effect of the wind. Computer screen should be a little below eye level and the number of blinking should be increased deliberately.
Missing amount of tear is tried to be replaced with artificial tears and gels. The frequency of use of drops is arranged according to severity of dryness. As long-term use is the case; we prefer single-dose tear drops which do not include preservative agents that may cause allergy and irritation in eyes.
Cyclosporine drops: We try to increase the secretion of natural tears of the individual by affecting the tissues that are related to production of the tear.
Autologous serum: We drop the autologous serums that are prepared by centrifuging the blood of the person, to the eye for severe dryness.
Therapeutic contact lenses are also used for severe dryness of the eye.
Punctum plugs: We close the holes (punctum) of canals that drain the tear from eyes, temporarily or permanently with tiny silicone plugs. This procedure is very simple and we can easily place the plugs in an examination room under drop anesthesia.
We also use eye drops that contain omega 3 fatty acids and capsules that contain omega 3 fatty acids and vitamins in addition to other therapies for patients with dry eye.
