Simply put, dry eyes affect all our lives in some way or form, to various degrees. The difference is if it is affecting our lives to the point where it is interfering with our day-to-day activities. Generally the majority of people are asymptomatic however it is almost guaranteed that if our patients are not at least made aware and educated of dry eyes, there will be a day where it appears to come out of no where and changing your life for the worst. And for some, dry eyes have already begun to deteriorate the quality of their life.
The prevalence of dry eyes is increasing steadily especially with the advent of technology and screen time in this generation. If the conversation does not start now between you and your optometrist, the symptoms may come to you as a surprise when they do.
At your routine eye examination, it is almost guaranteed that your optometrist will see certain signs that point towards dry eyes (with the exception of an infant or toddler). It is important to remember that dry eye is a very complex condition in that 9 out of 10 times the signs we see as your optometrist do not match your symptoms and how your eyes feel. So as you can see, the motivation to treat dry eye in a person whose eyes do not bother them even though there are certain “warning” signs is almost close to none.
Our goal at Ottewell is to stay relevant in our community and to be forward thinking – our belief in the context of dry eyes is to start the dialogue and to educate our patients. Ultimately we want our patients to know that Ottewell Eye Care has solutions to help when the need is there. Whether your dry eye is minimally annoying to detrimentally life staggering, Ottewell Eye Care is there for you!