Center for Sight
Comprehensive Eye Care Center
Dry eyes, dry eye syndrome or dry eye disease is one of the most common eye problems we encounter at Center for Sight. This is consistent with the fact that scientists estimate that in the United States alone, 20-30 million people have mild symptoms of dry eye and another 6 million women and 3 million men have moderate or severe symptoms of dry eye.
When most people think about having dry eyes, they mainly think about the common symptoms that cause discomfort such as dryness, grittiness or burning and do not even realize that in order to have normal vision, it is critical to have a sufficient quantity of healthy tears on the surface of the eye at all times.
Dry Eye is a condition in which there is a deficiency of the tear film that is due to either an insufficient production of natural tears or an excessive evaporation of tears. Systemic conditions such as Sjorgren’s Syndrome or autoimmune connective tissue diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus Erythematosus, inflammation of the Lacrimal Gland, long term contact lens wear, past eye infections, medications such as antihistamines or allergy medicine, blood pressure medicine, certain allergies and even vitamin deficiencies may decrease the quantity of tears that you produce. Your tears may evaporate too quickly if you suffer from low-grade eyelid inflammation, called blepharitis, which is often caused by Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD), a problem within the tiny tubular glands in your eyelids. Hormonal changes make perimenopausal woman particularly susceptible to dry eyes. Whether you suffer from insufficient production of tears or excessive evaporation of tears, or both, you may experience a decrease in the quantity and quality of your tear film resulting in the surface of the eye being affected.