In the midst of winter weather, eye doctors will see an increasing amount of episodic dry eye. Symptoms tend to emerge with the dry winter air, using defrosters in cars, and the blasting heat in our homes and businesses. This can affect all dry eye patients, but in particular exacerbate the marginal dry eye patients by increasing the stress on the ocular surface. If you think you are an episodic patient, you may escape treatment because of several reasons: it’s not time for your exam when the symptoms are occurring, or the symptoms come and go and are forgotten at the time of the exam. Inflammation begets more inflammation and without taking action to address the inflammation we know clinically the disease process has a tendency to progress.
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If you and experiencing episodic dry eye and choose to pursue earlier identification and decide not to pursue treatment, you will have at least identified a condition that should be monitored. Earlier treatment usually leads to quicker results with less intervention, as in almost any disease process. Identifying lid disorders such as Meibomium Gland Disease (MGD) at an earlier point will almost always be easier to treat with fairly minimal treatments such as a commercial warm eye compress, as well as a good lid hygiene product. A good supplement to address inflammation and increase tear production such as an Omega 6/Omega3 combination may also be great entry-level treatment. Of course, moving to a therapeutic treatment such as Xiidra or Restasis eye drops will also address the inflammation in a rapid manner.
Do you feel you are an episodic dry eye patient? Start by making a Dry Eye evaluation with your eye doctor!
TAGS: dry eye, eye health, MGD, winter, tears, eye drops, eye exams