Checklist for dry eye patients
This is a list of steps we strongly recommend all our visitors start taking right away:
Learn the dry eye ABCs.
"Dry eye" is a misnomer. In your case, it may or many not have anything to do with dryness (lack of moisture). "Dry eye" is really a catchall for a complex collection of diseases that affect the human tears.
Learn some basic facts about your tears and what may be wrong with them here: "Dry Eyes for Dummies" . Another terrific resource for understanding dry eye is a book called The Dry Eye Remedy by Dr. Latkany.
Define your SYMPTOMS.
If you want to communicate effectively with doctors - and even with other patients on Dry Eye talk - you must take some time to sort out your symptoms, get the right names on the symptoms, and start identifying patterns such as what time of day and in which environment(s) you get certain symptoms. This is important for getting an accurate diagnosis and also for sorting out dry eye from other eye complaints. Here is a suggested list of common symptoms of dry eye.
Second, we strongly recommend that you use a scientifically validated method of measuring the severity of your symptoms. This is very helpful in communicating with your doctor and also with tracking your progress (or lack thereof) with specific treatments. The most readily available tool is the OSDI (Ocular Surface Disease Index). Download it, print it, and fill it out right now! It's quick and easy.
Get a good DOCTOR.
Heh, you'll say, easier said than done! We know, sigh. Many of our visitors have been to two, three, four, five, or even ten or more doctors. Eye doctors in general are undertrained in dry eye diagnosis and may not be familiar with a fraction of the treatment options available to patients today. And there are no easy rules of thumb. Officially, there is no such thing as a "dry eye specialist". Optometrists and ophthalmologists alike can provide excellent care. Technically, ophthalmologists specializing in "cornea and the anterior segment" are the ones with the most training, but as a practical matter most doctors with that background are running busy laser eye surgery practices. So keep an open mind as to what kind of doctor you're looking for.
We are working on providing better resources to help you get a really good doctor. In the short term we have two to offer:
Understand your DIAGNOSIS.
This is critical. We get calls all the time from people saying "I have dry eyes." But that means nothing. If that's all your doctor has told you, it's absolutely inadequate. You need to start asking a lot more questions.
Please read our article on Why and How to get an accurate dry eye diagnosis.
Understand your TREATMENT options.
I wish I had a nickel for everyone who's called me and said, "Rebecca, I've tried EVERYTHING!" Nine times out of ten, the "everything" they are talking about means a whole bunch of brands of artificial tears; Restasis and maybe some steroids; and punctal plugs. Believe me, if that's where you're at, you've only scratched the surface - AND this is a vital sign that you may not have begun to get a thorough and accurate diagnosis yet!
Please check out the following page with what we believe is a reasonably comprehensive outline of dry eye treatments and management tools.
CONNECT with other patients.
The life impact of dry eye is startling to anyone who has experienced it. For many people it is absolutely debilitating. As such, it becomes isolating. It is important to connect with people who truly understand.
Come to Dry Eye Talk , pull up a virtual chair and join in. Keep an eye out for local support group meetings. Speak up about your needs.
Acknowledge and address the MENTAL HEALTH impact of dry eye.
Let's face it: Depression and anxiety are par for the course with dry eye. If you have NOT suffered from clinical depression at some stage, consider yourself unusually fortunate! And those who have iatrogenic dry eye, for example from laser eye surgery, may also be suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
There are many reasons for this, including unremitting pain; unsightly red eyes; lack of validation from physicians; lack of understanding from loved ones; financial stress; and occupational impact, to name just a few!
Don't kick yourself for being a wimp; don't brush off depression as something that will go away when your dry eyes get better. You need to think of depression and anxiety as problems to be addressed in their own right - however you choose to do it, whether it be vitamins, counseling, anti-depressant medications, whatever - just make sure you seek help before things escalate.
More about depression and dry eye
TRACK treatments, products and progress methodically.
Use a journal, or consider setting up a blog on DryEyeTalk to track your progress - noting down things such as:
- Dates when you started or stopped a treatment
- What you observed about your symptoms during different treatments or while using certain products
- Changes you've observed at different times of the day, month or year
- OSDI scores from time to time
- Results of clinical tests from your doctor appointments
Extra credit: REPORT dry eye to the FDA!
If you think your dry eye may have started or worsened because of a medication, surgery, or anything regulated by the FDA, PLEASE take ten minutes to file a MedWatch report on the FDA website. This is vital so that other people can eventually learn that dry eye may be a risk of the drug or treatment you had! As just one example, we know that tens of thousands of people have moderate to severe dry eye from LASIK eye surgery, yet in April 2008 it was widely reported that the FDA only had 140 complaints filed between 1998 and 2006. Why? Because no one knows they should report the problem to the FDA, who regulate the lasers used in LASIK.
Here are examples of when you should report your dry eyes to the FDA:
- If your dry eyes started after LASIK, PRK, LASEK, Epi-LASIK or other elective vision surgery, or cataract surgery. (If this is you, find out what laser was used in your surgery. You don't need the exact model. You can usually get this information from your surgeon's website, or you can call them to find out.)
- If your dry eye, or eyelid dysfunction resulting in dry eye, was caused by BOTOX injections.
- If your dry eye started or got worse after being on prescription or over-the-counter eyedrops of any kind.
- If your dry eyes started or got significantly worse after taking a systemic drug such as:
- Antihistamines
- Diuretics
- Acne medications
- Hormone replacement therapy
- Beta blockers
- Pain medications
- Decongestant
WHERE TO REPORT: MEDWATCH
The process is straightforward. You do NOT have to fill out every field. If you need help let us know.
Make sure to tell the FDA how seriously dry eye has impacted your life, including depression and other mental health problems.
THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
FOR MORE INFORMATION, please explore our Dry Eye Encyclopedia by topic.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Always consult a physician before employing any of the treatments described in this website, which is for informational purposes only. Remember, this site is written by patients, not doctors. Please read the Terms of Use. |
