Your Pathway to Dry Eye Relief in West St. Louis
Dry eye occurs when your eyes either don’t produce enough tears or the tears evaporate too quickly, leaving the eye surface unprotected. This can cause frustrating symptoms like a persistent gritty feeling, redness, burning, and even intermittent blurry vision.
While over-the-counter eye drops might provide quick, temporary comfort, they rarely address the underlying cause of the irritation. At Wildwood Vision Specialists, we focus on identifying the root of your discomfort. A proper, professional diagnosis allows us to tailor a targeted treatment plan that brings you true, lasting relief.
Schedule your dry eye consultation today and let us help you find a solution.
What Is Dry Eye?
Dry eye is a chronic condition that occurs when you don’t have enough quality tears to keep the eyes moist and nourished. The tears are essential for keeping your eyes healthy, your vision clear, and protecting your cornea.
Tears are very complex and not only made out of “water”. Our tear film is made up of 3 layers: mucus, aqueous, and lipid. The mucus layer sits closest to the eyes and helps spread the tear film evenly over the eye. The aqueous layer contains water and nutrients. The top lipid layer slows the evaporation of the tear film.
Dry eye happens when one or a combination of these layers is lacking, causing damage to the surface of your eyes.
Symptoms of Dry Eye
Here are some of the symptoms you may experience with dry eyes:
- Scratchy, gritty feeling
- Burning or stinging
- Watery eyes
- Redness or soreness
- Tired eyes
- Light sensitivity
- Contact lens discomfort
- Eyelids stuck together in the morning
Many things can cause dry eye, or contribute to routine dryness, including contact lenses, your work/home environment, medications, surgery, autoimmune diseases, and age. During your assessment, we will discuss possible factors or contributors to your symptoms and provide advice for lifestyle adjustments as well as targeted treatments to help improve your comfort.
How We Diagnose Dry Eye
We start treating dry eye with a careful diagnosis of your condition. As dry eye can be caused by a variety of factors and can result in failure to produce sufficient tears or produce tears of poor quality, a proper diagnosis helps guide your treatment plan.
Dr. Hayes and Dr. Brown use a slit lamp microscope to view your tear film and assess whether your tear film is evaporating too quickly (called your tear breakup time). They may use a special paper strip to measure tear production, called a Schirmer’s test, and capture images of the meibomian glands in your eyelids.
Your meibomian glands are responsible for producing the lipid layer of your tear film, and are a common cause of dry eye. If they become blocked or inflamed, your tears will lack protection against evaporation, leading to dry eye symptoms.
Our Dry Eye Treatments
[To be added: List of Dry Eye Products to Feature]
Find Relief from Dry Eye Today
Living with dry eye can be uncomfortable, but it doesn’t need to be a constant distraction. With the proper guidance and care, we can help you achieve lasting comfort and a treatment plan that fits your symptoms, the root cause, and your lifestyle.
Contact us today to schedule your dry eye consultation or visit us for a comprehensive eye exam to check your vision and eye health, too!
Visit Our Location
Find us just off Highway 100 on Fountain Place in the Wildwood Town Center. There’s plenty of parking right out front.
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