Chronic dry eye treatment
Even if you have continuously watering eyes, you might still need chronic dry eye treatment. People who are experiencing too much tear being produced, which results in their eyes constantly watering, are often referred to an oculoplast by their GP or optometrist. An oculoplast is a surgeon who can fix the excess watering sometimes caused by tear duct obstructions, droopy eyelids, orbital fractures, and performs tumor removal in and around the eye area etc). The GP or optometrist would most often suggest that excess eye watering is due to a clogging in the patient’s drainage ducts (known as nasolacrimal duct obstruction). This is not always the case, sometimes the excess watering meaning dry eye treatment is needed and an oculoplast is not the right person for the job…
It seems quite simple but the need for chronic dry eye treatment is often not recognized. A recent study shows that, out of 150 patients who went to an oculoplast for excessive tearing, 48 per cent had an actual blockage, 40 per cent were diagnosed with dry eye excess tearing and 12% had an abnormal eye lid diagnosis. All of these patients had to undergo a Schirmer’s test* to calculate tear production which indicates whether they are suffering from the dry eye syndrome or a drainage duct blockage. A whopping 40 per cent were actually not diagnosed properly and sent to the oculoplast whereas the GP should have been able to identify that they need chronic dry eye treatment!
So clearly around 40 per cent of the time, the excess tearing is not because the tear ducts are blocked, but because the eye is dry. One of the main symptoms of a blocked duct is excess tearing.
When the quality of the tears produced by the eyes is inferior and does not contain the correct amount of oil/water to hydrate the eye, the eyes sense this and start producing more tears to compensate the qualitative loss. As these tears are poor quality, the brain sends a message to produce more tears in the hope that more tears will result in eye hydration. The body follows the instructions, but the quality of tears is still quite poor thus the message is repeatedly sent. This results in extreme tear production.
The fact that so many people are referred to oculoplast, when they actually have dry eye is just another reason why general practitioners and optometrists should be able to diagnose their patients more accurately and suggest appropriate specialists. So much time and money is being wasted and no compensation is ever offered.
People needing chronic dry eye treatment need to be sent straight to an opthamologist. They might not always know how to permanently get rid of the dryness and redness in the most immediate manner but they will definitely be able to suggest some relief measures. Patients cannot be expected to make a diagnosis by themselves and go to the appropriate specialist! General practitioners should be able to do this and they have a professional obligation to be effective and efficient. Only this can help them gain a patient’s trust and confidence. If you can’t trust a GP – who can you trust? Chronic dry eye treatment can only be easily sought after if a GP can diagnose the case correctly.
*The Schirmer’s test is an extremely painful, primal (and often humiliating) test to diagnose the severity of dry eye syndrome. This test is proof of the fact that the medical community still has a long way to go when it comes to the diagnosis of eye disease.
