Wednesday, 17 November 2010
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Kleiman Evangelista Dry Eye Treatments
As surgeons specializing in ophthalmology, patients at Kleiman|Evangelista Eye Center often ask us about the connection between Lasik and dry eye. Lets clear up a few things. These comments come from my personal experience as an Ophthalmologist for over 27 years practicing in the Dallas Fort Worth area in Texas.
Generally speaking, everyone gets dry eyes as they get older. There is a test and an exam we conduct routinely to measure the amount of dryness and tear production, and we also carefully analyze the appearance of the eye's surface under the microscope. These test results can vary patient to patient and more importantly, the results can change on any given day depending on several factors. As a surgeon, I must review many contributing factors before this patient can be considered as for a lasik procedure. Patients must disclose their complete medical history, including a list of all medications they may be taking. Drugs such as allergy medications, anti-histamines, diuretics and others can and typically do impact the level of dryness we find in a patient. In my own surgical experience, my patients generally improve after Lasik because they stop abusing the use of contacts, meaning the contacts are not left in the eye for long periods of time. Additionally, patients who no longer depend on contacts discontinue the use of cleansers and contact solutions, further improving their dry eye symptoms. These patients are among my most grateful patients.
My practice is full of patients who have real trouble with dry eye from a comfort and vision quality standpoint. Almost all of these patients can be greatly helped with either tear replacement, medicated drops of several types or plugs in their tear ducts. It is rare that a patient’s dry eye cannot be controlled, allowing the patient to be very comfortable and assume his or her normal routines.
In my opinion, Lasik and dry eye are really unrelated. Yes, it is true that some patients have dry eye symptoms after Lasik, but in my experience, the vast majority of patients’ dry eye goes away in a few weeks. There is a small group of patients who need longer-term treatment with tears, medicated drops or plugs following Lasik.
Once the eye has fully healed from Lasik, if you still have not eliminated the pre-existing dry eye, Lasik is generally not the cause. In my experience, the Lasik procedure has not done anything to worsen the dry eye condition. More often than not, especially in contact lens wearers, we are able to significantly improve their dry eye symptoms through LASIK.
We always take every precaution to pre-treat dry eye before a Lasik procedure is ever performed at Kleiman Evangelista Eye Center. If we determine a patient has dry eye syndrome but they really want Lasik, we treat the dry eye aggressively and will prescribe certain drops post- operatively to keep the patient enjoying a higher quality of vision outcomes. If we do these things dry eye should rarely be a reason to avoid Lasik.
*As with any vision correction procedure, results may vary patient to patient. Most patients report improved immediate vision. Additionally, the majority of our patients continue to experience improvement in their vision for up to six months.
