Hi! I%26#039;m a 41 year old female, recently diagnosed with Chronic Dry eyes, according to my eye doctor, have a mild case. I%26#039;ve been reading alot about dry eyes online and have a few questions.
From what I read, chronic dry eyes can be caused by age, vitamin defficiency, menopause, prolonged computer use, allergies and other medical conditions. I%26#039;m in good health but eat a terrible diet - junk food, fast food, no vegetables. I have bad allergies, am a writer so I stare at a computer screen for hours at a time and I%26#039;m in peri-menopause.
I was wondering if changing my diet and taking supplements like Vitamin A or Omega 3 or even %26quot;eye vitamins%26quot; would halt or even reverse this condition.
Also, do allergies cause chronic dry eyes or just make an existing situation worse?
I am able currently able to wear a contact but should I consider puctual plugs now or wait to see if the condition worsens.
Thanks for your help!|||What kind of contacts do you currently wear? You should definitely talk to your doctor about punctal plugs or trying a drop called Restasis. It helps your body produce more tears. Unfortunately it takes a couple of months to notice a difference but it works. Allergies can make your dry eye symptoms worse as well. There is a vitamin you can look into - its called Ocuvite - you should be able to find it in any drugstore or wal-mart. But dry eyes is so common at your age with hormone changes. Do you use any drops while on computer?|||Here%26#039;s a great article about omega-3%26#039;s and dry eye:
http://www.theratears.com/nutrition-in-d鈥?/a>
As far as allergies and dry eye, my understanding is that it%26#039;s the treatments (ie, anithistamines) that can exacerbate dry eyes. Also, allergies can make contact lens wear difficult, but some people find that use of daily disposables helps to solve this.
Also, you may want to read this about dry eye and menopause:
http://www.allaboutvision.com/over40/dry鈥?/a>|||I didn%26#039;t have a huge problem but I got silicone ( permanent plugs) placed and rarely need to use artificial tears. I do think that vitamins that contain lutein are always good and now there is another type of vitamin called Biotears that supposably help, ( I have not used them but several patients have bought them and most are complaining less and less of dry eye. it helps rehydrate all sebaceous glands as well from what I hear) Maybe you can try them if you haven%26#039;t already. Age and everything you listed are contributing to dry eye although I don%26#039;t think your eyes would be greatly better if you stopped using computer of changed to a healthy diet , some of us just have this darn problem.
