Question 1

What Is Dry Eye?

Accepted Answer

Dry eye occurs when your natural tears are unable to keep your eyes well lubricated and moist. It can be due to your eyes not producing enough tears or the oil producing glands in your eyelids may be blocked or infected.
 
If left untreated, severe dry eye can potentially damage your eyes and affect your vision.

Question 2

Causes of Dry Eye

Accepted Answer

1. Age
2. Medications such as hormone replacement therapy, anti-histamines and diuretics
3. Hormonal changes during pregnancy, lactation and menopause
4. Other medical conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, sjogrens syndrome, allergies
5. Contact lens wear
6. Environment e.g outdoors, wind, air conditioning Inflammation
7. Reduced blinking and eye strain from staring at the computer or tv screen
8. Refractive (lasik) surgery

Question 3

Symptoms of Dry Eye

Accepted Answer

1. Dryness
2. Redness
3. Irritation, sore, tired eyes
4. Grittiness, foreign body sensation
5. Watery eyes
6. Blurred vision
7. Light sensitive

Question 4

Dry Eye Assessment

Accepted Answer

At Frith and Laird we do comprehensive dry-eye examinations, assessing the quality, quantity and flow of your tears. From this we are able to work out a personalised plan of action to help you manage and maintain the comfort of your eyes.
 
We also have a corneal topographer which is used to measure the curvature of your eyes and also records a video to measure the stability and breakup of your tears.

Question 5

Treatment of Dry Eye

Accepted Answer

Treating dry eye can be as simple as using over-the-counter eye drops of which there are a huge range of options catered to individual needs. Often though, there are also preventative steps that can be taken, including simple diet or hygiene changes that can go a long way to alleviating symptoms.
 
Other treatment options may include prescription eye drops, warm compresses with a wheat bag, supplements, punctal plugs and even prescription oral medication.

Question 6

Treatment of Dry Eye- Artificial Tears

Accepted Answer

Artificial Tears
Artificial tears are the most common treatment for dry eye. These eyes drops provide a soothing and moisturising effect for your eyes. Artificial tears are available over-the-counter, without a prescription and comes in either multi-dose bottles or single-use non-preserved vials. For moderate to severe dry eye, thicker tear supplements such as gels and ointments can provide more relief but as they are more viscous your vision may become blurry temporarily.
 
Multi-dose bottles
These eyedrops come in a bottle and can be used for an extended period (as specified by the manufacturer). The eyedrops also contain a preservative to ensure they do not become contaminated with bacteria after opening.
 
Non-preserved vials
Artificial tears are also available preservative free which makes them suitable for people with sensitive eyes. As they do not contain a preservative, once opened the vials must be discarded after 1 day.

Question 7

Treatment of Dry Eye- Warm Compresses

Accepted Answer

Our eyelids contain glands (meibomian glands) which produce the oily layer of our tears. These oil glands become blocked (meibomian gland dysfunction) and prevent normal secretion of the oils causing dry eye. At home, using a small, warm wheat bag placed over the eyes for 5 minutes each day can help unblock these glands.
 
At Frith and Laird we have the Blephasteam goggles. The Blephasteam goggles is a device that heats up and provides electronically controlled moisture and heat therapy to unblock the meibomian glands.

Question 8

Treatment of Dry Eye- Supplements

Accepted Answer

One of the most common causes of dry eye is inflammation. Omega-3 found in oily fish, flax-seed oil and some nuts help with dry eyes by providing an anti-inflammatory effect. A high dose of 1200mg of omega-3 daily can improve your dry eye symptoms.

We recommend high quality, pharmaceutical grade omega-3.

Question 9

Treatment of Dry Eye- Punctal Plugs

Accepted Answer

Your puncta are small ducts in the inner corners of your eyelids and help drain your tears away from your eyes. Small collagen plugs are inserted into your puncta to prevent the drainage of your tears.

Question 10

Treatment of Dry Eye- IPL

Accepted Answer

Intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy involves the use light pulses on a targeted area to provide its therapeutic benefit. IPL is used in eye care, dermatology and appearance medicine. IPL in eye care is primarily used to treat MGD.

In eye care, IPL is used to address dry eye symptoms, particularly those caused by meibomian gland dysfunction. By reducing inflammation and stimulating  oil production, IPL can significantly improve comfort and vision. Those  with rosacea on the cheeks also get an additional benefit when getting  IPL for the eyes.

Additional benefits include:
Decreased inflammation and constriction of abnormal blood vessels leading to improved ocular rosacea around the eyes/ cheeks as well as stimulating collagen production in the skin.
Improved ocular surface with increased tear film stability
Increased cellular activity and decreased bacterial load around eyelids

The recommended treatment for IPL consists of 4 sessions at day 0, 15, 45 and 75. With an annual top-up session recommended. IPL is available at Frith and Laird.

The fee for IPL is $990 for 4 sessions. IPL may be covered by some medical insurance policies.

Question 11

Treatment of Dry Eye- Contact Lenses

Accepted Answer

Specialty contact lenses (such as semi-scleral and scleral lenses) can be used to manage dry eye. Unlike the commonly available soft contact lenses which can cause dryness, semi-scleral and scleral lenses are hard contact lenses which traps the tears behind the lens giving comfort from dry eyes and also providing a protective layer preventing the tears from drying out.

A contact lens subsidy is available from the Ministry of Health if you meet their criteria. This covers most of the cost of the lenses and appointments. The optometrist will advise you if are eligible for the subsidy. You don’t have to do anything as we make the claim on your behalf.

Contact us for more information.

Question 12

Treatment of Dry Eye- Prescription Medications

Accepted Answer

Those with serious dry eye may require prescription medication (such as steroidal and non-steroidal eyedrops) or oral (tablets) medication to decrease the inflammation of the eyes.
 
Therapeutic optometrists may prescribe medication to manage your dry eye just like your G.P.

Question 13

Dry Eye at Frith and Laird

Accepted Answer

At Frith and Laird, we also carry an extensive range of different products from which our friendly optometrist will be happy to make recommendations.

We offer full in-office dry eye treatment options including blephasteam, punctal plugs and IPL.

Dry Eye

Have you been spending too much time staring at the computer screen waiting for your TradeMe auction to close and now your eyes are feeling dryness, grittiness or burning.

You may have dry eye.