Dry Eyes & Help for Dry Eye Problems at Baltimore Washington Eye Center

About Dry Eye Problems & Symptoms
Dry eye problems and complaints about dry eyes bring many patients to Baltimore Washington Eye Center seeking relief and help. Women are more frequently affected than men, and it is often caused by hormonal changes due to aging and menopause or medical conditions. While the symptoms of dry eye can be quite variable, they are often troubling enough that they cause patients to have a combination of dryness, grittiness and burning along with difficulty while trying to read, use computer screens, mobile devices, drive, or even watch television. Dry eyes and dry eye syndrome not only cause discomfort, but can also have a negative impact on performing daily activities. In order to be comfortable and see clearly we need to have a sufficient quantity of healthy tears on the surface of the eye at all times. Dry eye can result from not producing enough of your own tears or an excessive evaporation of the tears you do produce, or a combination of these factors.

Help for Dry Eye
The first step in getting help for dry eyes is to understand as much as we can about the cause of your dry eye problem. Baltimore Washington Eye Center is an accredited TearLab® Dry Eye Center that allows us to use tear osmolarity testing to diagnose and monitor your progress and response to various treatments we can prescribe. 

Depending on the severity and the cause of your dry eyes, we may recommend a number of different treatment options to help your dry eye problems including artificial tears, Restasis® prescription eye drops, punctal plugs, anti-inflammatory and/or antibiotic medication  and even dietary supplements.  Should we find that you suffer from Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD) and evaporative dry eye, we may prescribe Lipiflow® treatment to resolve the underlying cause of the problem and relief of the symptoms. LipiFlow® is an electronic device cleared by the FDA for the treatment of MGD by removing blockages of the glands and restoration of their function so that they provide normal oily secretions for a healthy tear film.