When Do You Need A Dry Eye Assessment?

Living with and getting through the day with dry eyes can be difficult, especially if you are one of those who suffer regularly from dry eyes. A steady stream of itching, burning, and redness in your eyes is causing discomfort and affecting your daily life. It can be painful to go outside and you may need to put drops in while doing important tasks like driving or walking in public. If this sounds familiar then it may be time to have a dry eye assessment.

It is Time For the Dry Eye Assessment

You keep your pockets, purses, and vehicles stocked with eye drops but still, the disorder continues to happen. What some experience during allergy season is a yearlong battle for you. If this sounds familiar, then it may be time to reach out for professional assistance. All the OTC medications are doing is patching something that needs a solution.

What Can I Expect With A Dry Eye Assessment?

When you schedule an appointment with your optometrist for the dry eye assessment, you need to first give them a background of your history and medical health. There are some medical conditions and autoimmune diseases that have a side effect of dry eyes. During the course of this assessment, the optometrist will take an investigative approach into your eyes and watch thoroughly as tears are produced, manifested, and where they are traveling once they leave the ducts.

Tear Film and Glands

The first part of the assessment is to determine the functionality of tear film and ducts. After all, dry eyes happen when there are no tears to maintain a wet environment. The optometrist will apply a solution that includes a dye. While it will not cause any pain or discomfort to your eye, it will give them an idea of how frequently your tears are producing.

Lashes and Eyelids to Follow

While waiting for tears to produce and monitor them, your optometrist will move forward to your eyelashes and your eyelids for the next phase of the assessment. With the dye in the tear film, the eyelids and lashes will give the doctor more data on how the glands are functioning. If they are producing, where are the tears going? Are they not producing at all? This information is critical in determining what is causing your chronic dry eyes.

How Are The Tears That Are Being Produced?

If there are tears being produced, their quality needs to be assessed. Not all tears are created the same. If there is a trickle of tears and nothing close to the size they should be, that is a cause for concern. The optometrist will determine if there are enough tears flowing to maintain the necessary moisture in the eye or not. It is at this point in the assessment where the optometrist will discover any issues with the tear duct.

Treatments Following The Dry Eye Assessment

Based upon your past medical health and the dry eye assessment that was performed, the optometrist will be able to make a diagnosis for your dry eyes and move forward with treatment. If your tear ducts are operational, you may leave the appointment with a prescription to reduce this disorder from recurring. If there are difficulties with your tear duct and film, a different type of treatment or even surgery may be required as a solution.

Schedule Your Dry Eye Assessment Today

If you have been experiencing pain and discomfort with dry eyes for an extensive amount of time, you should stop patching the problem with OTC medication. While they can give you immediate relief, they will not solve the problem and you can expect it to continue recurring. Contact your local optometrist today to schedule an appointment for a dry eye assessment. Getting back to your life begins when you decide to stop living with this agony. Don’t wait another day and call us right away. We are ready to assist you with your eye care needs.