Eye Doctors Dry Eye Secret Treatment

Dry eyes can be a very debilitating condition. It is very common in low humidity climates like the Fort Collins area, and it can interfere with contact lens wear and comfort. It can also be a severe problem after LASIK corrective eye surgery. Optometrists have a number of different options to treat dry eye syndrome  and contact lens intolerance today, and TheraTears non preserved artificial tears have proven very useful to eye doctors. TheraTears has some unique properties that can actually help restore the eye tissues instead of just treating the symptoms of burning eyes, gritty eyes, and general discomfort.

The tear film covering the front of the eye has been the subject of extensive study by eye doctors over the last decade. It is composed of a water component, a mucous component, and a lipid component. Every time you blink, your eyes experience a resurfacing of the tear film. When things go right, the new film has adequate water and retains its integrity until your normal blink reflex recurs. When things go wrong comfort and cells that produce the tear components are compromised.

The water component of tears has a normal value for osmolarity which is related to how much the salt concentration is in your tears. When the water levels decrease, the same amount of salt is present so the relative percentage of salt in the tears increases. This draws more water out of the corneal tissue on the front of the eye and can damage the surface cells known as the epithelium layer. The high osmolarity levels also decrease the amount of goblet cells. These are the cells that produce the mucous component of the tear film that makes the tear layer slide out across the eye surface. There are electrolytes like sodium and chloride in the tear film that are essential to keep the osmolarity in a normal range and also help the proteins like lactoferrin dissolve in the tears. Lactoferrin is a protein that fights against bacterial and fungal eye infections. It also serves to reduce eye inflammation. Because the cornea tissue on the front of the eye has no direct blood supply, a healthy tear function is vital to maintain good eye health and vision. Even from this brief view of the tear film, you can see how important it is to your optometrist that this complex system is functioning normally.

So now one of the best kept secrets of eye doctors in treating dry eye disorders and contact lens discomfort-TheraTears

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And there is a little known way of using TheraTears to achieve the correct effects called saturation dosing. Saturation dosing involves taking one vial of TheraTears and emptying it into the eyes over a five minute period for times a day for at least a few weeks. It helps restore the salt content levels back to normal and allows goblet cells to regenerate. It is specially formulated to stay on the eye for about 30 minutes. The electrolyte content is similar to what a normal eye would be so it helps readjust this also. After a few weeks your optometrist can decide when you can discontinue the saturation dosing and start a single drop several times per day. Often the tear film regains a significant amount of its integrity and the burning, dry eye discomfort stops. Sometimes the simple things work best.

Call For Student Special

970-226-0959

College students have special requirements for contact lenses. Most importantly they should be wearing disposable contact lenses and replacing them of on a prescribed schedule, not when it becomes uncomfortable.

Daily disposable contact lenses eliminate hygiene issues if the lenses are thrown away each night. Though you may find it hard to believe, some college students for mysterious reasons do fall asleep in their lenses at times. These individuals require the silicone hydrogel superpermeable contact lenses like the Biofinity to add a margin of safety. Students participating in overnight hiking and camping trips are probably better off with this type of lens since it is quite difficult to have clean hands in the wilderness.

College Dorm rooms are a microbiologists dream for exotic new species so using solutions as instructed and replacing contact lens cases every month is very important. Your friends half full glass of tap water is the wrong place to plop your lens in overnight if you want to keep seeing. Also, your friends contact lenses belong on their eyes,not yours. Eye infections are easy to pass around. If that’s not enough to convince you, things like HIV have been found circulating in tears (but no known cases this way yet). Chlamydia is also a nice eye disease you can acquire.

Those bottles of solution do have expiration dates (for a reason). Cosmetics get really old and grow interesting bacteria also-they deserve to be pitched on a regular basis.

Last, but not least-tap water is not bacteria free. Some of the worst cases of eye infections come from hot tubs. Leave the lenses off and should look hotter (OK its a really bad pun but true, acanthamoeba is a terrible bug associated with soft contact lenses and hot tubs primarily).

CALL: 970-226-0959 For Your All Contact

Lens Needs at Colorado State University

If you are interested in contact lenses but not sure you can cope with the handling and putting them on your eyes we offer a free trial contact lens session. Call and request a time and we will let you handle and insert a lens. Then you can make the decision if you would like to commit to a complete contact lens fitting.  Call now for this limited time no obligation offer! 970-226-0959. Central Fort Collins Location on the Mason Street Corridor.