Usually tear rinse the eye all the time. Tear makes eye comfortable and humidity but sometimes tear is not enough for wetness or quality of tear is not support the eye that is called Dry Eye. There are two types of technique to make tear. one of them is continuously tear on the eye and second one is trichiasis, cold air or wind, foreign object damage and catching cold or flue makes dilution a lot. It is interesting that dryness on the eye and contact lens usage can cause dilution.

Symptoms of Dry Eye;

• Feeling burn and sting on the eye
• Have mucous ropes inside of the eye or around it.
• Redness
• Heavy dilution and tiredness
• Uncomfortable feeling on contact lens usage

What is tear film layer?

When we blink tear covers eyeball and it makes layer on it. It is called Tear Film Layer. There are oil, mucous, electrolyte, vitamins, sugar and amino acid in Tear Film Layer. It feeds front layer of the eye. It provides oxygen trespassing and protect from foreign materials. It is prereguisite for eye because person can not have clear vision without tear film layer. It contains immunoglobulin and immunomodulatory for protect eye from microbial materials.

What is the reason of Dry eye?

Amount of tear is decrease when people get older. It is mostly seeing on elder woman but it can be seen any age and gender. There are other reason that cause dry eye that If patient have articular pain they might suspicious about Sjögren Syndrome. Some medicines reduce tear and it might cause dry eye.

• Diuretical
• Beta Blocker
• Antihistaminic

If patients need to take this medication they might use artificial tear drop. People who have dry eye are more able to get side effect for artificial tear drop with toxic. Some eye drops can contain protectable materials so it may irritate the eye.

How to diagnosis dry eye?

Any ophthalmologists can diagnosis dry eye but they have to run tear calculation test for accurate result.

Schirmer Test: A filter tissue placed under eye lid and it calculates if tear is enough or not. Tear should be less than 10 mm to be dry eye.

Tear film break-up time: Colorant drop under eye lid and blink couple times and wait 10 seconds without blink to see if there are going to be dry spots. It is important for diagnosis.

Treatment

1-) Tear adding

The artificial tear drops are similar to tears so missing tear should replace with that. They are keeping eye wet and humidity. There are many different kind of artificial tear drop. Patients who use contact lens and sensitive eye for preventive materials that inside of eye drop should use non-preventive eye drops. Artificial eye drops uses few times a day. Patient should follow doctor’s instruction.

2-) Permanent and temporary punctum(plug).

There is other way to keep the eyes wet and humidity. It is keeping existed tear. Tear goes though to nasal with duct system. (When we cry our nose also leak.) We can block that duct for keeping tear and artificial tear on the eye long time.

3-) Other Techniques

Tear is also evaporating same as other liquids. Patients have to keep place humidity to avoid evaporation to make that they can placed cup of water top of stove or heater in winter. Person who have dry eye should protect their eyes from heat, steam also cigarettes smoke. Eye drops that contain vitamin A are useful for Stevens Johnson syndrome and pemphigoid.