Tag Archives: dry eye syndrome

Stop Suffering from Dry Eyes

Posted on May 22, 2020 | Comments Off on Stop Suffering from Dry Eyes

Stop suffering from dry eyesWith the dry eye treatments currently available there is no need to continue suffering from dry eyes. Dry eye syndrome is probably the most common, treatable cause of suffering reported by our patients. Fortunately, current dry eye therapy is very successful at relieving these symptoms.

Most Common Dry Eye Symptoms

Contact lens intolerance is one of the most common causes of suffering from dry eyes. Patients with dry eyes either don’t wear contact lenses at all or experience very limited wearing time, often eagerly removing them as soon as possible.

End of Day Discomfort

As the day goes on your eyes start to dry out and become irritated. This is also why contact lens wearers experience discomfort at the end of the day. When you sleep your eye repairs the damage caused by dry eyes and the cycle repeats the next day. This end of day discomfort usually causes watery eyes.

Watery Eyes

It sounds counter-intuitive but watery eyes, especially in the afternoon or evening, are a sign of dry eyes. As the day goes on the lack of tears cause corneal irritation. When the cornea is irritated it sees this as something in the eye that needs to be flushed out. Your eye starts to produce watery tears to flush out the perceived foreign object. These are known as reflex tears, tears that are a response to an immediate stimulus. Reflex tears lack the wetting properties of normal tears and actually contribute to the damage caused by dry eyes.

Misconceptions of Dry Eye Syndrome

Most patients think the mainstay of dry eye therapy is artificial tears. While artificial tears are helpful and beneficial to dry eye sufferers they represent only a small part of the available treatment options. Artificial tears require regular and frequent application to be effective. We now have better therapies to treat all stages of dry eye syndrome.

How do I Know if Dry Eye Treatment is Right for Me?

  • If you find yourself using artificial tears three or more times a day
  • You are not able to use artificial tears often enough to provide all-day relief
  • You have Sjogren’s Syndrome or suspect you may have it
  • Cannot wear contact lenses all-day
  • You stopped wearing contact lenses because they were uncomfortable
  • Experience tearing and/or discomfort near the end of the afternoon

What Dry Eye Treatment Options are Available?

Most patients will experience the most successful treatment by using multiple dry eye treatment options. Some of the most helpful and common treatment options are;

Does Insurance Cover Dry Eye Treatment?

Dry eye diagnosis and treatment is covered by major medical insurance.
All medical insurance companies cover the diagnosis and treatment of dry eye syndrome. There are many new dry eye treatments available to us.

How Do I Get Started?

The best way is to call either the Total Eye Care – Colleyville office at 817.416.0333 or call the Total Eye Care – Keller office at 817.431.4900. You can also schedule an appointment with our doctors online.

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Dry Eyes of Summer – Effective Treatment is Available

Posted on June 4, 2017 | 1 comment

Relief is at Hand

Dry Eyes - Relief and ExultationRight when we want to free ourselves of glasses and enjoy the warmth of summer, the dry, air-conditioned air makes our dry eyes worse making it more difficult to wear contact lenses. Symptoms of dry eye syndrome peak during the summer months. Thankfully, the doctors at Total Eye Care have achieved great success in treating patients with dry eyes and now have many new dry eye treatment options that were not available only a few years ago, including a new, patented nutritional supplement clinically proven to help patients with dry eyes.

Common Symptoms of Dry Eyes

  • Do your eyes bother you at the end of the day?
  • Do you look forward to taking your contact lenses out at the end of the day?
  • Are you light sensitive?
  • Do your contact lenses feel ok when you put them in, but as the day goes on they feel worse and worse?
  • Have you tried numerous types of contact lenses only to give up because all of them bother you?
  • Are your eyes often red and gritty?

If any of these situations sound like you, meaningful relief is available. There is no need to continue putting up with chronic discomfort. Using artificial tears is not enough. Fortunately, comfortable vision is available to you with many of the new dry eye treatment options available.

Patented Dry Eye Relief

Better Options Than Artificial Tears

Total Eye Care’s Dry Eye Treatment Paradigm incorporates a clinically proven, patented nutritional supplement with medications and tear preservation procedures to help relieve a patient’s dry eye symptoms.

Dry eye syndrome treatment does not have a quick fix for symptomatic relief; rather it requires a systematic, proven approach to enhance our patient’s comfort and vision. Successful treatment often involves multiple methods to provide optimal comfort for both contact lens wearers and non-contact lens wearers alike.

Effective treatment may involve a change in contact lens type or modality, preservation of your own tears, nutritional supplements, prescription medications or even changes in contact lens solution. In some cases, a non-contact lens wearer may actually find wearing the right kind of contact lenses, in association with other treatments, markedly improves their comfort. Effective dry eye treatment requires a systematic approach from an expert familiar with all aspects of the condition.

Total Eye Care’s Dry Eye Experts are Here to Help

As you can see we have many treatment options available to us. The doctors at Total Eye Care have helped countless patients recover from the problems associated with dry eyes. If you would like to experience the better comfort available with the new dry eye treatments contact the dry eye experts at Total Eye Care, relief is only a phone call away.

To get started call us at 817.416.0333

or schedule online. We are here to help you.

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New Technology Improves Contact Lens Comfort

Posted on September 13, 2013 | 2 comments
  contact lens comfort We often hear from eyeglass wearers “oh, I tried to wear contacts but they irritated my eyes”. The most common reason patients discontinue contact lens wear is because of poor comfort. Significant advances in contact lens materials have improved contact lens related irritation for many patients. If you have not tried contact lenses in the past 18 months you may be missing out on the potential benefits experienced by successful contact lens wearers.

With better contact lens materials, better contact lens solutions, and better lens designs almost all patients can wear contact lenses. Not all contact lens comfort issues; however, can be fixed with a different contact lens. Often addressing an underlying systemic condition such as dry eye syndrome will improve contact lens wear comfort and extend wearing time.

Now is a great time to give contact lenses another chance. Most of the major contact lens companies are offering rebates, some up to $100. If you would like to see if new contact lens technology can help you please call our office or use our online scheduler.

We look forward to helping you join the ranks of other successful contact lens wearers

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New Drug For Dry Eye Treatment

Posted on July 26, 2013 | Comments Off on New Drug For Dry Eye Treatment

Bausch & Lomb announced it has acquired the rights to market a new medication for the treatment of dry eye syndrome. This, yet to be named, medication will improve the quality of tears by promoting the eye’s ability to produce mucin, an essential component of our tears, that is responsible for prolonging the evaporation time.

This medication will be the first of it’s class and the first to focus on improving tear quality instead of quantity. Dosing will be twice a day. Phase 3 clinical trials are to begin by the end of 2013.

While a few years from clinical use this compound will provide a new approach to the treatment of dry eye syndrome..

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Does Flax Seed Oil Have a Role in the Treatment of Dry Eye Syndrome

Posted on March 3, 2011 | 8 comments

For strict dietary vegans flax meal may be the only option of increasing the omega 3 fatty acids, albeit an inefficient one. However, for most people flax seed oil’s role is very limited in the treatment of dry eye syndrome. Flax seed meal on the other hand may have a limited role. The biggest disadvantages to using flax seed oil is that you can’t cook with it (it is not stable above 160° F), it must be refrigerated and it has a short shelf life. Flax seed meal, on the other, hand can be used as a shortening substitute, has a very high fiber content, has a much longer shelf life and can be used in baking. Therefore, I would only recommend flax seed oil over omega 3 fatty acids derived from fish if someone did not like the texture of the flax seed meal or flax meal would be inappropriate in a particular recipe.

One of the best uses of flax seed meal is its high fiber content therefore, I would recommend flax seed meal in baking to increase our dietary fiber and any ALA (alpha linolenic acid) converted to the omega fatty acids is just an extra bonus. In addition, flax seeds are not digested by our bodies and should not be considered as a dietary source of fiber or omega 3 fatty acids. The flax seed’s shell is very hard and must be crushed if our bodies are to utilize it. Therefore, if you must rely on flax as a source of omega 3 fatty acids utilize flax seed meal.

This article is the fourth and final article in a series on Omega 3 fatty acids in the treatment of dry eye syndrome.

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Which is a Better Source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids Fish Oil or Flax Seed Meal

Posted on February 28, 2011 | 2 comments

The short answer, without question is fish oil. We have found better results by eliminating the flax seed oil and greatly increasing the EPA and DHA (we like 2000 mg to 3000 mg of EPA and DHA combined). Flax seed oil is very unstable and thus has a short shelf life at room temperature. Flax seed oil also does not contain omega 3 fatty acids, instead our bodies must convert the ALA (alpha linolenic acid) contained within the flax seed into the omega 3 fatty acids that can then be used by our bodies. Another disadvantage to flax seed oil is that our body’s conversion of flax seed oil to EPA or DHA is very inefficient. The conversion ALA to EPA/DHA rate has been reported to be between 4% and 15% (worse for DHA than EPA and lower for men than women). A person’s conversion rate can vary based on many factors. Therefore, fish is a much better and efficient source of omega 3 fatty acids.

This article is the third in the four part series on using omega 3 fatty acids in treating dry eye syndrome

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Selecting the Right Fish Oil Capsule for Dry Eye Relief

Posted on February 22, 2011 | 4 comments

As eye doctors we recommend that our patients with dry eyes increase their dietary intake of omega 3 fatty acids. Our typical dosage is 2000 mg to 3000 mg in a combination of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). This translates into 4 oz of wild, Atlantic salmon per day. Regardless of how much we like salmon we probably don’t want it every day no matter how many different ways there are to fix it, therefore fish oil capsules are a necessary dietary supplement. Unfortunately, not all fish oil capsules are created equal. Often inferior and/or low dose varieties cause “fish burp” and indigestion while others can not be efficiently used by our bodies. Here is an article on how to evaluate the different types of omega 3 fish oil capsules.

This article is the second of a four part series on using omega 3 fatty acids in treating dry eye syndrome

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Posted in dry eye, dry eye syndrome, Macular Degeneration

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Study Shows 70% of Dry Eye Patients Improve with Omega 3 Fatty Acids.

Posted on February 21, 2011 | 5 comments

A hot topic currently in medicine revolves around the multiple benefits of increasing the Omega 3 Fatty Acids in our western diets. At Total Eye Care we have recommended increasing the essential fatty acids in our diet for many years. A pilot study, conducted by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, on the efficacy Omega 3 Fatty Acids in the treatment of dry eye syndrome was published in the journal Cornea. 36 patients with dry eye syndrome were involved in the study. The control group was given a placebo and the study group was given a daily dose of 450 mg of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), 300 mg of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and 1000 mg of flaxseed oil. The patient’s symptoms and objective findings were assessed at baseline and then again 90 days later.

The objective findings suggested that there was increased tear production as well as an improvement in fluorophotometry (the assessment of the tears with fluorescein dye), however more importantly 70% of the study group experienced an improvement in their symptoms versus only 7% of the control group. This data compares well with what we see clinically at Total Eye Care.

This article is the first in a four part series on using omega 3 fatty acids in the treatment of dry eye syndrome

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Ocular Manifestations of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome

Posted on March 30, 2010 | 11 comments

It’s hard to find a comprehensive source for the ocular problems experienced by patients with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

Our practice continues to be sought out by patients for help in their quest for answers to the potential ocular complications related to Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, such as dry eye syndrome and keratoconus, as a result, the number of patients we see with EDS grows rapidly.

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LACRISERT® – an Option for Patients with Severe Dry Eye Syndrome

Posted on February 15, 2010 | Comments Off on LACRISERT® – an Option for Patients with Severe Dry Eye Syndrome

We now have LACRISERT® available in the office for the treatment of dry eye syndrome.  So far the results have been promising.  LACRISERT® is inserted inside your lower lid once or twice a day.  Lacrisert slowly releases supplemental tears to your eyes throughout the day.

Most patients have found that using the LACRISERT® once a day provides sufficient relief for most of the workday.  When the LACRISERT® has almost completely dissolved it tends to not stay trapped inside the lower lid, causing intermittent blurred vision.  A drop of artificial tears flushes out the last remnant restoring vision.

Please feel free to call the office to see if LACRISERT® may be an option for your dry eyes.

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