What is „dry eye syndrome”? Causes and possible ways of treatment.

Dry eye syndrome is a disorder of the tear film. It may be cause by the lack of tears as well as by the disturbance in their chemical balance. The cause can be determined during an ophthalmologic examination. After diagnosis, a decision about most appropriate treatment can be made. Those two main causes of dry eye syndrome require different approaches.

Low quality of tears (chemical imbalance):
The quality of the tear film can by assessed by dying the eye orange with a fluorescent strip. While the patient blinks, the tears should stay on the surface for 10 seconds. If they do – there is nothing to worry about. Uneven distribution of the dye means that the quality of tears is low (the tear film is not continuous).
It is often caused by the dysfunction of meibomian glands, localised on the edge of the eyelid. Those glands often clog due to under- or overproduction of their fatty secretion. Successful therapy requires systematic cleaning of the eyelids with a compress. For best effects, such compresses should be soaked in 3% solution of boric acid.

Low quantity of tears.
To determine the amount of tears produced an examination using special sticks with a millimetre scale is performed.
The sticks should be places under the lower eyelid for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes the result can be read – if it is below 10 mm the eye produces too little tears.
Therapy of such case includes blocking the drainage of the tears, which is done by placement of special plugs in the lacrimal points.
These plugs are made of hydrogel which swells when it contacts tears and thus clogs the lacrimal canal. After few years it biodegrades and disappears.

Nowadays, when our eyes are exposed to such stress factors as air condition or endless hours in front of the computer, they tend to dry out very quickly. This is not dry eye syndrome, it is simply caused by not blinking frequently enough. In such case artificial tears may be of help.

We should take care of our eyes. As José Saramago, a famous poet, once wrote: ‘each pair of eyes sees their own world’. We should care about our eyes to always see the true colours of the world.

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