LASIK EYE SURGERY

If you have dry eye syndrome, your eyes don’t produce enough tears or you aren’t able to maintain a normal layer of tears to coat your eyes. As a result, your eyes cannot eliminate dust and other irritants. This can lead to the following symptoms in your eyes:

• stinging

• burning

• pain

• redness

See your health care provider right away if you have dry eyes and a sudden increase in discomfort or a sudden decrease in your ability to see.

Reading extensively, working on the computer, or spending long hours in a dry environment may further aggravate your eyes if you have this condition. If you have dry eye syndrome, your eyes may also be prone to bacterial infections or the surface of your eyes may become inflamed, causing scarring on your cornea. Although it’s uncomfortable, dry eye syndrome almost never causes permanent vision loss.

Dry Eye Symptoms

• Burning sensation

• Itchy eyes

• Aching sensations

• Heavy eyes

• Fatigued eyes

• Sore eyes

• Dryness sensation

• Red eyes

• Photophobia (light sensitivity)

• Blurred vision

Another common symptom is something called a foreign body sensation — the feeling that grit or some other object or material is “in” your eye.

And as odd as it may sound, watery eyes also can be a symptom of dry eye syndrome. This is because dryness on the eye’s surface sometimes will over-stimulate production of the watery component of your tears as a protective mechanism. But this “reflex tearing” does not stay on the eye long enough to correct the underlying dry eye condition.

In addition to these symptoms, dry eyes can cause inflammation and (sometimes permanent) damage to the surface of the eye.

What Causes Dry Eye Syndrome?

An adequate and consistent layer of tears on the surface of the eye is essential to keep your eyes healthy, comfortable and seeing well. Tears bathe the eye’s surface to keep it moist and wash away dust, debris and microorganisms that could damage the cornea and lead to an eye infection.

A normal tear film consists of three important components:

1. An oily (lipid) component

2. A watery (aqueous) component

3. A mucous-like (mucin) component

Each component of the tear film serves a critical purpose. For example, tear lipids help keep the tear film from evaporating too quickly and increase lubrication, while mucin helps anchor and spread the tears across the surface of the eye.

Each tear component is produced by different glands on or near the eye:

1. The oily component is produced by meibomian glands in the eyelids.

2. The watery component is produced by lacrimal glands located behind the outer aspect of the upper eyelids.

3. The mucin component is produced by goblet cells in the conjunctiva that covers the white of the eye (sclera).

A problem with any of these sources of tear film components can result in tear instability and dry eyes, and there are different categories of dry eyes, depending on which component is affected.

For example, if the meibomian glands don’t produce or secrete enough oil (meibum), the tear film may evaporate too quickly — a condition called “evaporative dry eye.” The underlying condition — called meibomian gland dysfunction — is now recognized as a significant factor in many cases of dry eye syndrome.

In other cases, the primary cause of dry eye is a failure of the lacrimal glands to produce enough watery fluid (aqueous) to keep the eyes adequately moistened. This condition is called “aqueous deficiency dry eye.”

The specific type of dry eye often will determine the type of treatment your eye physician recommends to give you relief from your dry eye symptoms.