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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staff
For most people with occasional or mild dry eyes symptoms, treatment involves over-the-counter eyedrops and other home remedies. If your dry eyes symptoms are persistent and more serious, your treatment options will depend on what's causing your dry eyes. Some conditions that cause dry eyes can be reversed or managed. Other treatments can improve your tear quality or stop your tears from quickly draining away from your eyes.
Treating the underlying cause of dry eyes
Your doctor will work to determine what's causing your dry eyes. In some cases these situations can be reversed. For instance, if a medication is causing your dry eyes, your doctor may recommend a different medication that doesn't cause that side effect.
If you have an eyelid condition, such as an anatomic abnormality or a condition that makes it difficult to close your eye completely when you blink, your doctor may refer you to an eye surgeon who specializes in plastic surgery of the eyelids (oculoplastic surgeon).
If your signs and symptoms suggest an autoimmune condition, such as rheumatoid arthritis or Sjogren's syndrome, your doctor may refer you to a rheumatologist for evaluation.
Medications
Prescriptions used to treat dry eyes include:
- Antibiotics to reduce eyelid inflammation. If inflammation along the edge of your eyelid keeps the oil glands from secreting oil into your tears, your doctor may recommend antibiotics to reduce inflammation. Antibiotics can be administered as eyedrops or ointment, or they can be taken in pill form.
- Prescription eyedrops to control cornea inflammation. Inflammation on the surface of your eye may be controlled with prescription eyedrops that contain the immune-suppressing medication cyclosporine (Restasis) or that contain corticosteroids to control inflammation.
- Prescription eye inserts that work like artificial tears. For people with moderate to severe dry eyes symptoms who can't use artificial tears, one option may be a tiny eye insert that looks like a clear grain of rice. Once a day, you place the hydroxypropyl cellulose (Lacrisert) insert between your lower eyelid and your eyeball. The insert dissolves slowly, releasing a substance that's used in eyedrops to lubricate your eye.
Closing your tear ducts to reduce tear loss
Your doctor may suggest treatment to keep your tears from leaving your eye too quickly. This can be done by partially or completely closing your tear ducts, which normally serve to drain tears away. Tear ducts can be plugged by:
- Tiny silicone plugs. The closure conserves both your own tears and artificial tears you may add. Silicone plugs can be removed or left in.
- A procedure that uses heat to close the tear ducts. In a more permanent procedure called thermal cautery, your doctor numbs the area with an anesthetic and then applies a hot wire that shrinks the tissues of the drainage area and causes scarring, which closes the tear duct.
Covering your eyes with a special contact lens
People with severe dry eyes may opt for special contact lenses. These contact lenses help protect or shield the surface of your eye, trapping moisture close to your eye in order to relieve your dry eyes symptoms. Ask your eye doctor whether these special lenses, called bandage lenses or corneal shields, are an option for you.
- 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.
- 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.
- Facts about dry eye. National Eye Institute. http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/dryeye/dryeye.asp. Accessed May 10, 2010.
- Dry eye syndrome. American Academy of Ophthalmology. http://one.aao.org/asset.axd?id=be593214-34af-4073-ab93-2bccbdf62aae. Accessed May 10, 2010.
- 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.
- 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.
- Cakiner-Egilmez TT. Omega 3 fatty acids and the eye. Insight. 2008;33:20.
- Heart-healthy eating: Omega-3 fatty acids. ADA Nutrition Care Manual. http://nutritioncaremanual.org/index.cfm. Accessed May 13, 2010.
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