Are you living with dry eyes? You’re not alone. More than 16 million people in the United States suffer from dry eye.
The symptoms of this frustrating eye condition range from an itchy or burning sensation to light sensitivity and experiencing excess watering. Dry eye syndrome is a chronic condition that may last for a long time.
Your eyes get their moisture from tears, and when your tears are unable to provide adequate moisture, it causes dryness. Beyond discomfort, this can impair your vision and even permanently damage your eyes.
Whether playing a round of golf or relaxing lakeside, Blaine is a beautiful place to call home. It isn’t easy to enjoy it, though, when your eyes are constantly bothering you. Keep reading for four reasons to treat your dry eyes in Blaine right now and to start getting the relief you need!
1. Get Diagnosed and Treated Quickly
When it comes to relief for your dry eyes, receiving it as soon as possible is essential. Before you can begin treatment, you have to obtain a diagnosis.
Here at Blaine Eye Clinic, we can diagnose and treat your dry eye in almost no time, helping you get on the road to recovery and improvement. The ideal treatment for you depends on what’s causing your dry eyes and subsequential symptoms.
Dry eyes can arise for many reasons. Your eyes may not produce enough tears, or the tears they produce may be inadequate.
If you are not producing tears of appropriate quality, you may start noticing that your eyes feel irritated, dry, or gritty. After identifying the cause of your dry eye symptoms, we can begin treating them.
One method used at Blaine Eye Clinic is TearLab. TearLab helps us determine the cause of your dry eyes. It’s a quick, thirty-second test that measures how much salt is in your tears, called osmolarity.
Excess salt can indicate dry eye syndrome due to an unstable tear film or tears lacking the necessary components. Healthy tears have three elements: water, oil, and mucus.
If any of these parts are not working correctly, it can affect how the tear film functions. Ultimately, this can lead to dry eye symptoms and discomfort.
We also use InflammaDry to help pinpoint the cause of dry eye. InflammaDry is another quick test that measures levels of MMP-9.
MMP-9 is an inflammatory marker often found in increased levels in those with dry eye syndrome.
2. Find Lasting Relief
There are some home remedies and lifestyle changes you can make to alleviate dry eye symptoms. For example, you can drink more water, use a humidifier, or add more omega-3 fatty acids to your diet.
However, these aren’t enough for everyone. When at-home dry eye remedies and lifestyle changes aren’t working, you may need to look into medications or other options for lasting relief.
We offer a variety of dry eye treatments that provide lasting relief instead of a temporary or ineffective fix. Lumenis OptiLight is one of our latest, most effective treatments.
It uses intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy to help manage dry eye symptoms. OptiLight is the only IPL therapy approved by the FDA for use in dry eye syndrome.
It works by targeting inflammation in the eye. Targeting inflammation reduces abnormal blood vessels and Demodex mites, which can contribute to inflammation.
It also aids in the production of oils by the meibomian glands. Oils keep tears from evaporating too quickly.
If you’re searching for long-term relief for your dry eye symptoms, OptiLight may be the answer. Some patients are even able to decrease their dependence on eye drops.
Because it’s not a fit for everyone, your eye doctor would be happy to discuss your options.
3. Enjoy the Nice Weather While It’s Here
As the summer winds down, it’s only natural to want to savor every moment in the warm sunshine. Before you know it, the colder season will be here, bringing snowy, chilly weather.
That means there’s no better time to enjoy the great outdoors than the present. You can fill your free time with outdoor plans, but it’s tough to enjoy them when your eyes are feeling irritated.
Having dry eyes may make you feel like curling up on the couch and avoiding certain activities. If you’re experiencing excess watering, it can make your vision blurry.
Blurry vision makes it extremely challenging to enjoy the sights as the leaves change into autumn. Whether you like to play a round at the Victory Links, catch a soccer game at the National Sports Center, or relax by Sunrise Lake, treating your dry eyes now ensures you can make the most of the rest of the temperate summer months before they slip away.
4. Reduce the Severity of Your Allergy Symptoms
Did you know that dry eye can make your allergy symptoms worse? Allergies are not only a common issue in the spring.
They can affect you in the fall and any time of year. But in the autumn months, you’ll find that your allergy symptoms intensify due to ragweed blooms releasing pollen into the air.
Allergies can leave you sniffling and fatigued. The last thing you need is your dry eyes making you feel even worse.
Allergens only further irritate your eyes, and the problem with dry eyes is that your eyes lack the moisture to be able to wash them away. If your eyes feel itchy, you may give into the urge to rub your eyes.
Rubbing your eyes is the worst thing you can do, but with allergies, it may result in getting stuck in an endless loop of increasing irritation. Itchy, swollen eyes due to allergies on top of your dry eye symptoms can make for a pretty miserable time.
Many patients find that their allergies don’t affect their eyes as severely when they treat their dry eye symptoms. If you have seasonal allergies, treating your dry eyes can make you feel better in more ways than one.
Are dry eyes troubling you? You don’t have to go another day without relief. Schedule an appointment at Blaine Eye Clinic in Blaine, MN, today!
