Dry Eye FAQs

Eyes are often watery when they are irritated. When you get something in your eye, they water to rinse out the irritant. Unfortunately, the extra water in your eyes makes your dry eye worse, since it rinses out the natural oil layer that protects and lubricates the surface of your eye. The cycle of inflammation, watering, and irritation leads to destruction of the oil glands over time.

Untreated, dry eye results in the destruction of the eyelid tissue. Oil glands atrophy (die) over time when they are clogged up, and chronic inflammation leads to scarring and tissue destruction. Some severe cases of dry eye lead to permanent vision loss.

Absolutely! About 80% of dry eye is actually related to damage of the meibomian (oil) glands. Our custom approach to treatment involves evaluating treatment options that fit your schedule and lifestyle. Some medications are pills, some treatments are in office procedures that do not require you to use drops often or at all.

Allergies can absolutely cause itching as a symptom, but so can dry eye. The easiest way to differentiate them is that allergy itch feels similar to a mosquito bite - you can’t leave it alone and you have to rub and itch your eyes constantly. Dry eye itch is more mild, but can be present part of the day or all day. Allergies and dry eye can exist as problems together. Often, chronic allergies cause inflammation that leads to oil gland destruction over time, resulting in secondary dry eye syndrome.

Dry eye is a very poor name for this condition, but it is all that we have in the world of medical coding. A more accurate name is keratoconjunctivitis sicca or ocular inflammatory syndrome. “Dry eye” often does not feel dry, but can have a lot of other symptoms related to chronic inflammation.

YES! Treating the underlying cause for the bad days will give you more good days. It also prevents the condition from worsening. Dry eye is a disease, and it does progress if left untreated. Dry eye is a roller coaster. Some days are just fine, and other days are terrible, and many days are somewhere in between. It is important to treat this before your terrible days become the norm.

A dry eye evaluation is focused only on the ocular surface, the front of your eye. We do not dilate you or perform a glasses prescription check during these visits. We will take infrared photos of your oil glands to evaluate their structural damage, evaluate inflammation on the ocular surface with vital dye, examine functional flow from the oil glands, and express any clogged glands. We test the salt levels in your tear film and perform a thorough evaluation of the upper and lower eyelids, eyeball surface, and the tear film stability. We will discuss an individualized treatment plan for your dry eye symptoms. This visit takes about 30 minutes.

Dr. Kuipers has been treating dry eye and its symptoms in patients for almost a decade, and is passionate about finding treatment options that work for every patient. We are committed to finding an option that helps, and are willing to show you what compassionate, caring dry eye care can be! Dr. Kuipers is a dry eye sufferer herself, starting at age 17 with treatment, so we understand the significant impact it can have on your lifestyle. Previously trying medications without success does not mean that you cannot find something that works for you. Let us help you find a treatment plan!