Even Jennifer Aniston has Dry Eye
Jennifer Aniston is one fo the 30 million Americans that suffers from dry eye syndrome. Just like many patients, she had symptoms for years. She thought she had allergies. The majority of patients we see at Unionville Optometry have some form of dry eye. Some have symptoms and some don’t (yet).
Every patient over the age of 19 that visits our office for a full eye exam has their meibomian glands scanned with an infrared camera, called Lipiscan. The lipiscan shows if there are blockages or inflammation of the meibomian glands that can progress as we age; causing symptoms to get worse. Once the gland is blocked and inflamed for long enough, its starts to drop out. These changes cannot be reversed but they can be prevented with treatments like IPL and Lipiflow that we offer at our Dry Eye Clinic
Symptoms can range from nothing at all, to red eyes, burning eyes, watery eyes, los of eyelashes, brittle eyelashes, poor vision, blurry vision, discomfort reading, sandy or gritty feeling, discomfort on a computer screen, discomfort with contact lenses, headaches, itchy eyes, styes, red or irritated skin on the eyelids. The list is long and symptoms are different for every patient.
The amount go time we spend on our digital devices (with reduced blink rate by up two 70%) is part of the reason why this condition is so much more common, and starting younger and younger.
Traditional conservative therapy with eye drops act like a band-aid. Fortunately at Unionville Optometry we have a Dry Eye Clinic that offers IPL and Lipiflow to treat the root underlying cause of dry eye syndrome. These two treatments combined allow Our Eye Doctors to target both the inflammation and blockages of the meibomian glands to improve symptoms and prevents the condition from progressing.
The only way to know if you have dry eye syndrome and meibomian gland dysfunction, is to have your eyes examined with an Optometrist that specializes in dry eye and offers digital imaging of the meibomian glands like Lipiscan. Come visit us at Unionville Optometry for a dry eye consultation or call us at 1-905-477-4488
For more info, see this Mayo Clinic post on Dry Eyes Causes & Symptoms.