Understanding Dry Eye Disease

Dry eye is a chronic condition much like hypertension and diabetes. Damage occurs before you experience symptoms, and this damage is often irreversible. Early detection and diagnosis is important so we can manage your dry eye condition and preserve your eye health for years to come.

Discovering Underlying Causes of Your Dry Eye

Stoughton Eye Care & Eyewear stays at the forefront of research and technology in managing dry eye disease to allow for the best patient care. We combine physical evaluation along with advanced diagnostic testing to fully evaluate your ocular surface and properly identify the underlying causes of your dry eye symptoms. Common causes of dry eye include:

  • Inflammation

  • Meibomian gland dysfunction

  • Evaporative dry eye disease

  • Aqueous deficient dry eye disease

  • Systemic associations

  • Medication associations

  • Environmental associations

Ocular Surface Evaluation

Your initial ocular surface evaluation will take 45 - 60 minutes and may include:

  • Measuring tear volume

  • Evaluating tear quality with diagnostic vital stains: fluorescein, rose bengal and lissamine green

  • Inflammation testing (InflammaDry)

  • Osmolarity testing

  • Eyelid function

  • Meibography (Lipiscan)

  • SPEED Dry Eye Questionnaire

  • Digital imaging of ocular surface and structures

  • Sjogren’s Syndrome testing (Sjo Diagnostic test)

We will explain our findings to you and show you, via digital imaging technology, what is happening with your eyes.

Treatment Plan

Together, we will initiate your customized dry eye treatment based on the underlying cause(s). We will be with you every step of the way with follow-up care and treatment to help you to protect, repair and promote healing of your ocular surface. As treatments begin to work, you will begin seeing and feeling better.