If you have been spending a lot of time online, make sure that you take breaks to rest your eyes to lessen the risk of developing dry eye.
Mayoclinic.org defines dry eye as a condition where your tears are unable to provide adequate lubrication for your eyes. This is due to an unstable tear film which causes a wide variety of symptoms, visual impairment and is sometimes accompanied by ocular surface damage.
Dr. Keshia Lourdes Duyongco-Lenon, Cornea, External Diseases and Refractive Surgery Consultant at the Eye and Vision Institute of The Medical City, explained that the tear film is made of three components. The first component is the lipid or oil which is produced by the meibomian glands found in the upper and lower eyelids. These glands prevent tear evaporation.
The second component is aqueous or water which is mainly secreted by the lacrimal gland. It is made up largely of tear film and nourishes the cornea or the front part of the eye. The third component is the mucin or adhesive which is responsible for the adherence of tears to the eye. This is vital to the wettability of the ocular surface.
“A deficiency in one or more of the tear’s components can lead to an unstable tear film or dry eye disease,” Dr. Duyongco-Lenon explained. “The symptoms of dry eye may include tried eyes, eye heaviness and discomfort, eye pain, foreign body or sandy sensation, a fluctuating vision, eye redness, tearing, light sensitivity and eye itching.”
There are several risk factors for dry eye. For age and gender, dry eye is more common in people aged 50 years old or older and it affects more women than men and the risk is further increased during menopause. Certain eye conditions also contribute to getting the ailment like the prolonged use of contact lenses, meibomian gland dysfunction which can cause evaporative dry eye and usually occurs with advancing age and eye surgeries such as cataract, laser refractive surgery.
Certain medications can also lead to dry eye and they include antihistamines and decongestants, blood pressure control agents and anti-anxiety medications. Medical conditions like diabetes, thyroid disease and autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis are also known to cause dry eye.
“Prolonged screen time or visual display terminal use is a major risk factor for dry eye. That’s because during screen time, insufficient blinking and increased tear evaporation occur,” Dr. Duyongco-Lenon explained. “Exposure to windy, smoky and warm environments can increase tear evaporation and prolonged exposure to air-conditioned rooms can also cause dry eye.”
Dry eye is a chronic disease which can be managed by both medical and lifestyle interventions. To identify the interventions needed, Dr. Duyongco-Lenon said it is important to identify and modify all risk factors. By identifying what is lacking in the tear film and assessing the severity, an appropriate treatment strategy can be formulated.
There are procedures that can address certain types of dry eye. An example of this is the application of punctal plugs to retain the aqueous tears in the eye. Another procedure is Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) for meibomian gland dysfunction where the IPL stimulates the production from the meibomian glands to prevent tear evaporation.
“The best way to prevent dry eye is the identification and modification of risk factors. For example, cutting down on screen time by observing the ‘20-20-20’ rule can go a long way for dry eye prevention,” Dr. Duyungco-Lenon explained. “The ‘20-20-20’ rule involves taking a 20 second break for every 20 minutes of screen time by looking at something 20 feet away. This prevents dry eye not only but digital eye strain as well.”
If you have already been diagnosed to have dry eye, it is important to adhere to the prescribed dry eye medication and to follow its recommended schedule.
“Alongside medical treatment, lifestyle interventions such as eating a healthy diet, observing the ‘20-20-20’ rule, avoiding direct and prolonged eye exposure to sunlight, wind, and air currents and modifying your workstation should be practiced,” Dr. Duyongco-Lenon said.
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