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Risk factors

By Mayo Clinic staff

Factors that make it more likely that you'll experience dry eyes include:

  • Increasing age
  • Being a woman
  • Taking medications that can cause dry eyes
  • Having laser eye surgery
  • Undergoing radiation therapy, such as is used to treat cancer, aimed at the eyes
  • Eating a diet that is low in vitamin A, which is found in liver, carrots and broccoli, or low in omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in fish, walnuts and vegetable oils
References
  1. Tu EY, et al. Dry eye. In: Yanoff M, et al. Ophthalmology. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/199400089-5/0/1869/0.html. Accessed May 10, 2010.
  2. Dry-eye syndrome. In: Ehlers JP, et al. The Wills Eye Manual: Office and Emergency Room Diagnosis and Treatment of Eye Disease. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Wolters Kluwer Health Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2008. http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&NEWS=N&PAGE=booktext&D=books&AN=01337416/5th_Edition/3&XPATH=/OVIDBOOK%5b1%5d/METADATA%5b1%5d/TBY%5b1%5d/EDITORS%5b1%5d. Accessed May 10, 2010.
  3. Facts about dry eye. National Eye Institute. http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/dryeye/dryeye.asp. Accessed May 10, 2010.
  4. Dry eye syndrome. American Academy of Ophthalmology. http://one.aao.org/asset.axd?id=be593214-34af-4073-ab93-2bccbdf62aae. Accessed May 10, 2010.
  5. Care of the patient with ocular surface disorders. St. Louis, Mo.: American Optometric Association. http://www.aoa.org/documents/CPG-10.pdf. Accessed May 10, 2010.
  6. Lacrisert (prescribing information). Lawrenceville, N.J.: Acton Pharma Inc; 2007. http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2008/018771s017lbl.pdf. Accessed May 11, 2010.
  7. Cakiner-Egilmez TT. Omega 3 fatty acids and the eye. Insight. 2008;33:20.
  8. Heart-healthy eating: Omega-3 fatty acids. ADA Nutrition Care Manual. http://nutritioncaremanual.org/index.cfm. Accessed May 13, 2010.
DS00463 June 12, 2010

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