What is Dry Eye Disease and is it related to contact lens wear?
Dry eye disease occurs when the tear film in the eye decreases to the point that it causes blurriness, irritation and sometimes watery eyes. Contact lens wear makes dry eyes worse. Sometimes people blame their contact lenses for causing irritation when actually it is dry eyes that just need moisture to improve.
Is there a way for me to know if my eyes are dry without an exam?
Yes, it’s called the A/C TEST. Get in your car and turn the air conditioner on high and point the air vents at your eyes for 60 seconds. If the air vent makes your eyes feel dry or blurry, you may have dry eye syndrome. If this test makes you feel cooler, congratulations, you likely don’t have dry eye syndrome…yet. Dry eyes tend to affect people as they mature but people who wear contact lenses can have this problem at any age.
Could watery eyes mean that my eyes are dry?
Paradoxically, when your eyes are dry…they water! Your eyes produce two types of tears: baseline and reflex. When your eyes are dry, your body senses something is out of balance and it produces more reflex tears to compensate. Unfortunately these reflex tears do not help restore the balance but make things worse by washing out the baseline (normal) tears.
Is there a treatment for dry eyes that’s easy?
You can try artificial tear-drops or prescription drops but we feel like the easiest and least expensive treatment for dry eye syndrome is called TEARDROP SAVERS. The results of TEARDROP SAVERS are typically immediate and amazing.
Are there any formal tests I can get to see if I have dry eyes?
Yes, there are formal tests that can tell us if you have dry eye syndrome with scientific precision, but we typically use the old fashion method of simply talking to the patient and doing a great exam. We save the patients time and money by not ordering unnecessary tests.
How do TEARDROP SAVERS work?
The eyelid anatomy is intricate. The tears come from the LACRIMAL GLAND located under your upper lid and drain through two tiny drains in your lids called PUNCTA. We simply close off one of these drains, because you don’t need them both, and that restores the balance between production and drainage.
Will insurance pay for this procedure?
Regular medical insurance typically pays 100% of this procedure, but we look at each patient’s insurance carefully before we do anything because insurance companies are tricky. We have an awesome insurance department that will help unravel the details of your insurance plan and we will let you have the final say after we determine, to the penny, what your insurance will pay.
How frequently do you need TEARDROP SAVERS?
It’s a one-time procedure. Dr. D has had his for 20 years and many of our patients have had their TEARDROP SAVERS 15 years and they are still enjoying the results today.
Are there complications with this procedure?
We have NEVER had any complication with TEARDROP SAVERS at SEECA. This is due to their REVERSIBILITY which is one of the best features. If the patient doesn’t love their TEARDROP SAVERS we can easily remove them. We use a 1 minute, painless procedure, similar to the procedure used to insert them, and it’s like they were never there. This is technology that you can “TRY OUT” to see if it benefits
you, and this technology works immediately so you will see improvement on day 1 if you have dry eyes.
Any final thoughts on this topic?
We had a very nice patient, recently, who stopped Dr. D after the exam and said “I have to admit something. I had a problem with blurry vision and irritation for a long time and no one could fix it. I tried SEECA out of desperation and you recommended TEARDROP SAVERS and I was sure they would NOT work…but I was wrong. I see much clearer now and my irritation is gone. Thanks.”
That THANKS is the reason that we love helping others so much. It makes my job at SEECA awesome!