A patient’s plea for help - and what YOU can do to help them…

If you’re reading my posts, then chances are better than even that you have some degree of dry eye disease, in which case, then you, like many of my patients, will question if treatments can return you to a state of “normalcy.”

The short answer is yes - because I also have dry eye disease with Rosacea and primary Meibomian Gland Dysfunction and have been able to function well for the last 12 years knowing that I have this problem and treating it accordingly. I’ve offered treatments for nearly 40 years of my dry eye care practice but have been practicing this degree of interventional dry eye care for only 12 years at this level - and find a range of patient problems that require a range of treatments to fix these problems, as well as a range of improvement, depending on the patient, the range of the problem, and the degree of treatment.

I have an ask for you - that you find the FaceBook online Dry Eye Support Group (assuming you use FB/Meta) and then post there - if you feel that treatments have allowed you to return to a state of “normalcy” (where you might sometimes forget to do some of your dry eye “homework” because you feel good enough that your eyes are again being taken “for granted”). These dry eye sufferers generally have yet to feel that “normal” and are still looking for validation that some of these therapies can actually work for them.

Generally speaking, the earlier you catch the disease and the more aggressively it’s treated, the easier it is to turn it around,. Caught and treated early, it becomes easier to achieve a degree of normalcy. Maintaining this normalcy, in my experience, often requires a fairly structured program of “homework“. For most, this consists of getting enough oral omega 3, 6 and 9 oils (and digesting them), as well as regular strong, blinking patterns with occasional hot compresses for those with the waxy obstructive version of this problem (or Meibomian Gland Probing, for those with the tougher, scar tissue obstructions). It is also critical to address inflammation through diet and lifestyle as well as sometimes requiring medication as well as sometimes IPL or other therapies. Lid Hygiene is always important and I look at this a bit like I look at the dental issues that we suffer. Those who take care of their lids will have better function and longer lasting glands.

Many ask about the regular use of artificial tears when they are suffering with dryness. Eyes need moisture and using artificial tears when you can’t make your own is a good thing to do. However, I’ll differ with the American Academy of Ophthalmology (who recommend use of preserved artificial tears up to every 2 hours), in that I only recommend preservative free artificial tears if you’re going to use them at all. This is because any preservative is a toxin and applying toxins to your eye on a regular basis is only going to contribute to more problems making tears - as you hurt these tiny glands trying to make your tears, with those toxins. The biggest concern that I have is, if your only treatment is artificial tears, then you are applying a Band-Aid to a deeper problem that in essence “Kicks the can down the road” without solving the problem that’s causing the problem. I’ve posted on this before, here: https://www.eyethera.com/blog/why-cant-i-just-use-some-tear-drops-or-ointments-instead-of-all-this-work?rq=artificial%20tears

I advise that you should seek the advice of a good dry eye doctor who can best diagnose what’s causing your problem and help you to fix it. Working with the good dry specialist is your best recourse!

To schedule an appointment with Dr. Jaccoma, call Excellent Vision at either of these two dry eye offices:

(1) 155 Griffin Rd, Portsmouth, NH 03801 (603) 574-2020

(2) 3 Woodland Rd, STE 112 Stoneham, MA 02180 (near Boston) (781) 321-6463