Hi! So, many of you know that I take a special interest in dry eye. Since day one in my career – over 15 years ago (gasp!) – I have always thought that “dry eye” was a severely undertreated condition and a lot of people were suffering, glued to their artificial tears or Restasis, without much relief. Over the years, I’ve been passionate about new research, treatments, and results for all of my dry eye patients. I’m so so happy with how far we have come with a more targeted approach to the individual instead of the “one size fits all” approach of previous years. Each and every single case of dry eye is different, and layered, and therefore the treatment must be different and layered for every patient.
I have curated a combination of treatments and therapies available at my office to get more to the root of the cause of the inflammation and I’m so proud to be able to offer more than artificial tears for a problem well beyond. I say all the time that artificial tears can be “like putting a packet of Kool-Aid in the ocean”. It’s just sometimes not enough. There’s a time and place for ATs, but it might not be enough to gain a therapeutic endpoint alone.
I also think “dry eye” is a terrible name for this chronic condition. It’s inflammation. And a disruption of “homeostasis” …or how things should work. And this then triggers a cascade of bad shit….burning, tearing, discomfort, pain…and really, aging. No one wants to walk around with red, saggy eyes after years of untreated inflammation. This has become such a passion of mine and with the right treatment – relief and healing can be obtained.
I want to talk a lot more about dry eye but I thought I’d at least start here to just set the stage for what’s to come. Call the office and ask for a Dry Eye Evaluation – or if you aren’t sure you have dry eye or, like me, do not like the term – ask for an Eye Inflammation Evaluation.