See More Clearly and Comfortably With Dry Eye Therapy

It’s one thing to deal with dry, scratchy eyes on occasion, but when the problem becomes daily and prevents you from seeing clearly, that problem becomes a serious quality-of-life issue.

More than 16 million people in the United States have dry eye disease, which is the aptly named condition in which the tears in your eyes aren’t working as well as they should.

At LaSante Health Center, which includes optometry services, our team offers expert diagnosis and treatment for dry eyes with the goal of helping our patients see clearly and comfortably.

The role of your tears

Under normal circumstances, your tears perform some very important roles, including:

• Nourishing your eyes
• Clearing away debris
• Helping with focus

Tiny glands above your eyes produce these tears, then the tears exit through small ducts in the corners of your eyes. These tears contain:

• An outer layer of oil to keep moisture on your eye
• A middle layer of water to hydrate your eye
• An inner layer of mucus to help the tears stick to your eye

So every time you blink, you spread a tear film across your eye that nourishes your eye and helps you see clearly.

Behind those dry eyes

When you develop dry eyes, it often boils down to one (or a combination) of these reasons:

• Your tear glands don’t produce enough tears
• There’s an imbalance in the tear ingredients — not enough oil — and tears dry up too quickly
• A combination of insufficient tears and tear film instability

As a result, your eyes can feel scratchy, like there's something in your eye. In addition to the discomfort, you might have trouble focusing, or you can develop light sensitivity.

Over time, dry eyes can lead to more serious damage to your eye, so it’s definitely something you want us to check out and treat.

Diagnosing and treating dry eye

To determine whether you have dry eyes, we can perform a painless dilated eye exam, which can tell us a lot about the health of your eyes. If we find that you have dry eyes, there are a few frontline treatments that are highly effective, including:

• Artificial tears eye drops
• Prescription medications to help your eyes produce more tears
• Tear duct plugs to help tears stay on your eyes and not drain away

In addition to these treatments, certain lifestyle changes can also be helpful. For example, you should always protect your eyes on dry, windy days by wearing glasses. 

And screen time is bad for dry eyes because you don’t blink as much as you should. If you spend a lot of time staring at screens (and who doesn’t these days), it’s a good practice to look away and blink.

To figure out which of these treatments will work best to bring more moisture and comfort to your eyes, we suggest that you come see us.

To get that ball rolling, you can book an appointment online or call us at our Brooklyn, New York, clinic at 718-355-8616. We also welcome walk-ins during our hours of operation. 

Our team proudly serves the Flatbush and East Flatbush, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Little Haiti, Little Caribbean, and Prospect Lefferts Gardens communities.