January 18, 2021

Happy New Year! I am so excited for 2021 in all aspects of our lives personally and professionally!

I want to spend a minute talking about one of the newest tools in our toolbox: The iLux. This system has been around 2 years, but the technology has improved greatly. It is a customizable treatment for dry eye.

The iLux is an in-office treatment that gently warms the eyelids and cleans out the clogged glands that prevent nourishing oil from getting to the tear layer.

The tears have 3 layers: a bottom layer called the mucin layer that creates a sticky interface for the tears to stay on the surface of the eye. The second layer is called the aqueous layer and is the watery part of the tears that comes from the lacrimal gland. The top layer is the oily layer; this layer protects the eye and the tears, so they don’t evaporate off the surface of the eye.

I use the analogy that if you set a bucket of water out in the sun it would evaporate, but if you added a thin layer of oil to the top of the water it would not evaporate. This is exactly what the oily layer of our tears does - it prevents the tears from evaporating.

Studies have shown that 86% of all dry eye problems come from having too little oil in our tears.

When the tears evaporate too quickly, symptoms arise and can include burning, redness, blurred vision, irritation, and even excess watering.

Many eye doctors superficially treat dry eye by giving their patients moisture drops, but that is only addressing the symptom, not the cause, and relief from drops is very short lived. To truly treat dry eye, an evaluation must be performed, and a personalized treatment plan created, with good education on the disease process of dry eye.

Dry Eye disease affects 30 million Americans, are you one of them? We can help! Call our team of dry eye specialists in Puyallup at East Main Vision Clinic by calling 253-780-0700 today!