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.