Dry Eye Tests in Doctor's Office- What You Should Know.

Dry Eye Tests in Doctor's Offices - What You Should Know

So you think you might have dry eyes.  Do you know how to ask for the definitive test to assess how severe your dry eyes are, and seek help?  

Dry Eye demography

The dry eye demographic is shifting. Exclusively focusing attention on the symptomatic, menopausal woman will leave many patients undiagnosed and potentially perpetuate the chasm of unmet need. Even broadening the scope of dry eye patients to a younger subset of women and the male population may not be fully inclusive. Clinical evidence and pilot studies indicate pediatric patients may also be vulnerable to dry eye disease, and more specifically meibomian gland dysfunction and subsequent gland atrophy.

What Are the Diagnostic Tests for Dry Eyes?

Diagnostic testing for dry eye disease is becoming increasingly more accessible to eye doctors, and the diverse options available allow for a broad range of measurements. However, all of these tests may not be easily utilized. . While each person is different, and one cannot assume all people are incapable of advanced testing, generally invasive testing may be more difficult to perform.

Specific dry eye diagnostic tests lend themselves to the general population. Non-invasive tests with quick results are strongly preferred. While several tools may fall into this category, consider the following options:

•  Meibography:

Visualization of the meibomian glands is essential in people suspected of early presentation of dry eye disease. Imaging the glands provides a record of the current state, but also allows for longitudinal observation of the glands in the future. Arguably, imaging meibomian oil  glands could be considered as critical as moderate to advanced dry eye disease patients, because earlier therapeutic intervention may preserve or maintain meibomian gland function. Images obtained by commercially available Meibography units are obtained quickly and painlessly for patients of all ages.  One such unit is called LipiView.


•  Phenol red thread (PRT) also called the Schirmer's Test:

Phenol red thread is used to obtain a quantitative measure of aqueous volume. A thread is placed at the patient’s lateral canthus for 15 seconds. Once removed, the portion that changed from yellow to red is measured. Normal results are 20 millimeters or greater. Unlike Schirmer’s testing, PRT takes much less time to complete and offers little if any discomfort to the patient. Accuracy of results are comparable to traditional Schirmer’s testing.

•  Non-invasive Keratograph break-up time (NIKBUT):

 Some people may be reluctant to have vital dyes instilled. Unlike mydriatic drops, dyes require more patient cooperation and participation once instilled. Accuracy of findings are driven in large part by timing between dye instillation and doctor observation. Objective, quantitative data may be obtained by equipment like the Oculus Keratograph 5M’s, non-invasive keratograph break-up measurement. Similar to the use of traditional fluorescein dye with a cobalt blue filter, the patient is required to sit still for approximately 15-20 seconds. The timing could be limiting for some pediatric subjects with either test, but NIKBUT eliminates the instillation of the dye which may be irritating or frightening. Non-invasive tear break-up time can also be measured using a placido-disc topographer, or even a standard manual keratometer by simply measuring the time that passes between eye opening and degradation of corneal mires.

Eye doctors are now becoming keenly in tuned to making a dry eye diagnosis in an adult population. Opportunity lies in diagnosing and following  dry eye  cases with the hope of minimizing the obstruction and inflammation plaguing the general population.

How Can TheraLife Eye Enhanced help?

TheraLife® Eye Enhanced works by increasing intra-cellular metabolism (Mito-Activation), membrane permeability and blood micro circulation. This enables the Eye Enhanced to stimulate tear secretion glands to produce its own balanced sustainable tears all day long.

Taking TheraLife Eye Enhanced capsules before bedtime can often relieve night time dry eye symptoms.

To learn more about Chronic Dry Eye Solutions, please go to: click here

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Cataract & Dry Eye Syndrome - What you should know.

Cataract  and Dry Eye Syndrome - What You Should Know You just had cataract surgery, and now you have dry eyes.  Are these 2 things related? The following study wanted to investigate how many people undergoing cataract surgery already had dry eye disease before the surgery.  Knowing this can help better manage both the cataract surgery and dry eye disease for better outcomes.  Read on.

In 2011, William Trattler, MD conducted a study of 143 prospective cataract patients in 9 centers across the country. The patients were evaluated on: Tear Break Up Time (TBUT),  Schirmer’s scores, International Task Force (ITF) grading,  Cconjunctival staining and corneal staining.  The results were profound in the prevalence of dry eye in these cataract patients. 80.9% of the patients had a level 2, level 3 or level 4 dry eyes according to ITF guidelines. Yet only 22.1% had previously received a diagnosis of dry eyes. 62.9% had an abnormal TBUT of less than 5 seconds. 76.8% had corneal staining and 50% had central corneal staining. 21.9% of the patients had an abnormal Schirmer’s score of less than 5mm.  This study demonstrated that the prevalence of dry eye in cataract patients is very high and the recognition and subsequent diagnosis of the dry eye prior to referral of cataract surgery is very low.

Treat Your Dry Eyes Before Cataract Surgery. 

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Cheaper Way to Unclog Meibomian Oil Glands- Debridement Scaling

Cheaper Way To Unclog Meibomian Oil Glands- Debridement Scaling

Clogged meibomian glands is a major problem in people with chronic dry eye disease. The meibomian glands gets inflamed and clog up the pores to prevent lubricants from flowing.  

At TheraLife, we recommended the following regimen to treat MGD:

11. TheraLife Eye to revitalize tear secretion glands, including meibomian glands.  -

22.     Hot compress- twice a day, 10 minutes each time, followed by eye lid cleansing.  
33. Use steroid drops to stop inflammation when the condition becomes severe. 
4
Yourt eye doctor may recommend IPL (Intense Pulse Light) or LipiFlow- both are 10 minute heat treatment for your eye lids, costs not covered by your health insurance.   If your oil glands are severely clogged, these procedures may not work for you.  We recommend you find out how severely clogged your oil glands are before spending the money.

You may want to consider Lid Margin Debridement - an inexpensive way to unclog oil glands.

Over time, the meibomian glands tend to accumulate dead epithelial cells (just like dead skin cells) around the eye lid, making it impossible for the natural lubricants to flow out.

Lid Margin Debridement - Scraping and cleaning meibomian glands

Watch a video on lid margin debridement

This  new simple procedure uses a lid paddle to gently scrap along the eye lids to remove the dead epithelial cells and open up the meibomian glands.  One maybe able to see the fluid flow out immediately.

At ARVO meeting 2013, a small study by Drs. Caroline Blackie and Donald Korb was presented on lid margin debridement.  At one month post-treatment, patients reported a significant improvement in dry eye symptoms.  The researchers showed there is an increase in the number of functional meibomian glands. This appears to be a promising development in MGD therapy

  TherraLife Can Help

 Try using TheraLife Eye to keep all your tear secretion glands open and healthy.  Stop the vicious cycle of dry eyes, inflammation and inactive tear secretion glands.  Get your life back on track today.

Learn more about MGD

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Anti-Aging Cream Can Cause Severe Dry Eye Disease & MGD

Anti-Aging Cream Can Cause Severe Dry Eye Disease & MGD

Key Take Away Here Is - Don't Use Anti-Aging Cream Around your Eyes!

It has been speculated for a long time that a medication that treats acne called 13-cis retinoic acid (RA) – commercially known as "Accutane", causes dry eyes in young adults.  This dry eye syndrome is one of the most difficult to treat.  By this time, eyes are constantly irritated, can’t wear contact lenses, eye drops do not help.

We have known adults in their 40’s and 50’s who used Accutane at some time of your life still has dry eyes.  Just cannot shake it.

Studies show the key ingredients RA is also in anti-aging creams to be used around the eyes, which maybe causing Meibomina Gland Dynsfunction.

A group of researchers at Ohio State University looked at the effect of RA in various dosages and at different time points to cell viability (cellular health and levels of activities).  They showed RA inhibited cell proliferation (growth), increased cell death, altered gene- expression ( could cause cancer), and promoted inflammatory mediators and protease expression in meibomian gland epithelial cells. Basically the meibomian gland cells are also tuned down at the same time to stop acne formation on the skin.

This is an abstract from IOVS June 2013 54:4341-4350; published ahead of print May 30, 2013, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

The use of TheraLife Eye plus hot compress, eye lid cleaning and Omega 3 Fish Oil can revitalize meibomian glands intra-cellulary and relief dry eyes.
TheraLife Eye capsules is all natural- patented formula to help you produce your own balanced tears for dry eye relief.  No more drops.  Get started today.