Why, oh why, are my eyes so DRY?

Well everyone, it's fall, and the air is starting to cool. The optimist optometrist isn't going to lie; she gets a little upset when summer is over. But fall is nice too! The cooler weather often can make our eyes more dry, so I thought a post about dry eye might be in order.

But my eyes water all the time, so they can't be dry... right? Wrong! The optimist optometrist wishes she had a dollar for every time she has heard a patient say that. Actually, periods of excess tearing can be a sign of dryness. Other signs of dryness include irritation of the eyes, light sensitivity, fluctuating vision, and a "foreign body sensation" (when it feels like there is something in your eye, like sand or dust).

I'm just a girl...
Women tend to suffer from dry eye more often than men, especially those who are near or past the age of menopause. Also, certain types of inflammatory diseases (such as Rheumatoid Arthritis) have been associated with dry eyes. Smoking can play a role with dry eyes as well, so there's yet another reason for you to kick the habit. You can do it!

What does dry eye look like to the doctor?
When you visit your friendly optometrist and mention that your eyes are irritated, they may check for dryness by using a special dye called fluorescein. The dye is in the form of a drop, and it is yellow. When the doc puts the drop in and looks with a blue light and a cool microscope, the areas that are dry will be visible to us. The pattern of dryness can help us determine a specific treatment plan for you. Sometimes, we may also do a test to check your tear production, called a Schirmer test. You may look a little silly during this test, because we put these little paper strips on the inside of your lower eyelids and leave them there for 5 minutes. Your tears will wet the paper, allowing us to measure your level of tear production.

So, what can I do about it?
Did you have a feeling I was going to recommend a healthy diet as a good place to start? You're right! You're so smart. Having omega-3's in your diet can help. Also, antioxidants and B-vitamins can help to keep your tear film healthy, so make sure they are part of your diet as well.

A good place to start if you're beginning to experience dryness in your eyes is by using artificial tears. There are a number of great artificial tears that can be purchased without prescription at your favorite pharmacy. (And say hello to your friendly pharmacist while you're there! They are nice too. Almost as nice as optometrists. Did I mention I married a pharmacist?) A good place to start is to use the artificial tears every 2-3 hours. Some cases of dry eye may require more frequent lubrication. If your eyes are drying out while you sleep, sometimes it can be helpful to use a gel form of artificial tears before bedtime.

If artificial tears aren't doing the trick, your optometrist or ophthalmologist may recommend prescription eye drops to help increase your tear production. Restasis is a common medication used for this purpose. Your eyecare practitioner can determine if this medicine will benefit you.

Sometimes, if drops and nutrition are not enough, we may sometimes put in punctal plugs to keep your tears from draining out. Each of your eyes has a small hole called a punctum on your top and bottom lid, in the inside corner. You can find yours if you look very closely in the mirror. We cool eye docs can plug your punctum permanently or temporarily using small silicone punctal plugs.

Thanks!
As usual, please remember how important it is to take care of yourself. Fueling your body with the proper nutrients and avoiding environmental toxins can really help to cut down on dry eye symptoms. Dry eye is a very common problem, but we are lucky to be living in a time when there are many excellent treatment options. We are so lucky to be alive and well... keep that in mind, and have a beautiful day!

An Attitude of Gratitude

Ah, Springtime! The prefect time to do a post that's a little more optimist, a little less optometrist...

So I wanted to do a quick post about gratitude. I am reading a book about the importance of being thankful and the great things that happen when you are appreciative. The book is called Living Life as a Thank You, and I found it to be an easy, inspirational read.

When you appreciate the good things in your life, you will bring more good things into your life. This reminds me a bit of the Law of Attraction. Whatever thoughts you have will expand to become the reality of your life, so thinking negative thoughts will only bring negative things to your life. Thinking positive thoughts and being grateful will bring you good things.

One of the practices I found interesting was the idea of a gratitude journal. Every day, you're supposed to jot down a few things that you are thankful for. We tend to think about this stuff around Thanksgiving , but I think we could benefit from thinking about it daily. Gratitude for the great things in our life can lead to positive thoughts and then wonderful things.

There was a chapter in the book about loss and difficult times too. Sometimes we find it hard to be grateful when we are hurting. The author took a "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" attitude to loss, and reminds us that we need to be grateful for the good things that a loss has brought us.

I'm also reading (this one is an audiobook... still driving a lot) a book about living in a complaint-free world. Perhaps you have heard about the challenge to not complain for 21 days straight (the guy that wrote this book did a show on Oprah)... The people that set this up gave away purple bracelets that you switch to the other hand each time you complain. The goal is to not switch hands for 21 days. I haven't started it officially yet but am planning to. The idea here is that complaining is a negative thought, bringing more negative things into your life. You become what you complain about, and who wants that?

I think everyone can benefit from adopting a positive attitude. If you're not naturally a positive person, then you have the power to change that about yourself. I have personally found that focusing on gratitude and trying to see the bright side of things makes me a happier person. I think you will find the same is true.

Finally, I know this hasn't been too optometry-heavy, so just wanted to remind everyone to be thankful for their vision and good eye health. Hope everyone has a fantastic Easter weekend!

Here Comes the Sun!

Guess what everyone... it's almost SPRING! Which means then it's almost SUMMER!!! Hooray for warmer weather!!!

So the optimist optometrist took the winter off since it was so freaking cold out. Plus, she started a new job at a Lasik center, and plans on doing a Lasik blog post in the near future. So keep posted!

Today, since the weather will be (hopefully) warming up soon, I wanted to do a post about how sunlight can affect your eyes. Being from Florida, I must admit to loving the sun. Although I love the warmer weather, we should always remember how important it is to protect our eyes from the sun.

I wanted to go over a couple of ways the sun can affect the eyes, and then talk about some easy ways to protect our eyes from the sun. After all, you only get two eyes (unless you're a fly or an alien or something!)

1. Cataracts: (Dear patients - It is NOT funny to me anymore when you call them Cadillacs. Actually, it was never funny. Please don't be that guy.) Rays from the sun (UVA and UVB rays) have been shown to cause cataracts in patients. A cataract is a clouding of the lens of the eye. The lens is partially responsible for giving you clear vision, so a cataract can make your vision very cloudy. Protecting your eyes from UV light can help to prevent or delay cataract formation. Please don't be like Magda... she probably has cataracts.

2. Corneal or Retinal Burns: Wait... you mean, you can get an eye sunburn? Yep! That doesn't sound very fun, does it? If your cornea has a burn from the sun, it's called photokeratitis. This happens sometimes on ski slopes or from tanning beds. People with corneal burns usually have some pain, redness, and tearing. Not a fun thing to have. Retinal burns, on the other hand, (called photoretinitis) are usually not as painful, but can leave permanent vision defets. So please don't look directly at the sun and keep those retinas healthy.

3. Pinguecula and Pterygium: Those sure are funny names, huh? Both of these things that afftect the conjunctiva are associated with sun exposure. They are usually found on the white part of your eye. They can cause dryness and irritation. Sometimes if you have a large pterygium, it can affect your vision. Pterygiums can be surgically removed, but sometimes they grow back after surgery.

Geez, Doc, I don't want any of those things. What can I do?

We all know (I hope) how important it is to protect our skin from the sun. Hopefully we also remember how important it is to protect our eyes! Sunglasses not only look cool, but they can also cut out the harmful rays from the sun that can damage our eyes. So, WEAR SUNGLASSES! You will be glad you did.

Look for sunglasses that offer 100% UV protection. Optical centers will usually have a cool machine called a spectrometer that can measure the amount of UV protection a lens offers. If you like to fish or engage in water sports, you should also consider getting polarized sunglasses to cut down on glare. For contact lens wearers, although contacts protect against UV rays, you should still wear sunglasses to protect the parts of the eye that are not covered by the contact lenses.

Remember, kids need sunglasses too! Don't forget about them.

Ready for the moral of the story? The sun is great for many reasons. It brings us warmth, it helps to synthesize Vitamin D, and it cheers some people (me) up! But everything in moderation, right? When you are out in the sun, please protect your eyes from the sun. You will be glad you did.

Now for the optimist part:

Remember, despite the rainy days, there will always be a sunny one coming up soon. We should try to make every day the best day it can possibly be; today is your only chance to live this particular day! So make it a great one and stay safe.

Happy Spring to everyone!!!