CONTRIBUTED CONTENT — If you struggle with weepy, irritated, burning or red eyes, you’re not alone. An estimated 40 million Americans are affected by dry eye, and over $500 million is spent on dry eye symptom relief annually.

Optometrist Dr. Joseph Fife, the founder and CEO of Paradise Canyon Eye Care, has spent the past decade researching the underlying causes of dry eye and developing a comprehensive toolkit of treatment options to help patients achieve healthier eyes and better vision.

“Dry eye is a fairly complex disease, but most people don’t realize that,” he said.

Dry eye has many causes. It’s often part of the natural aging process, but poor blinking and eyelid problems also play a role. The most common risk factors include eye surgery, contact lenses, smoking, certain medications such as antihistamines, oral contraceptives and antidepressants, and general health problems like arthritis and Sjogren’s syndrome. Wind and dust also contribute to many dry eye complaints in Southern Utah’s desert climate, Fife said.

The symptoms of dry eye can range from mild to severe and may include irritated, scratchy, dry, uncomfortable or red eyes, a burning sensation or feeling of something foreign in your eyes, and blurred vision. Patients might also experience weepy eyes, light sensitivity, eye pain or tired eyes.

Tears are essential to eye health and vision. Along with lubricating the eye to prevent dryness and discomfort, they create a protective barrier against infectious agents, washing away substances such as allergens and bacteria. Tears promote healing of the eye’s surface and provide nutrients and oxygen to the cornea.

The cornea of the eye isn’t smooth, but instead is composed of fine microvilli that give it a roughened, uneven surface that would result in poor vision without tears. A smooth tear surface allows light to enter with minimal distortion, creating clear vision. Left untreated, dry eye may damage eye tissue, scar the cornea, impair vision and make contact lenses difficult to wear.

Dry eye occurs when the eyes either don’t produce enough tears (aqueous deficient dry eye) or when tears evaporate too quickly due to an unstable tear layer (evaporative dry eye). Within the context of evaporative dry eye is meibomian gland dysfunction, in which the oil glands within the eyelids have plugged or stagnant oils that prevent them from easily expressing into the tear film.

Fife must uncover the underlying cause in order to determine the appropriate treatment. To do this, he uses an instrument called the Keratograph 5M, which enables him to assess the degree of redness and inflammation, tear volume, tear stability, tear oil content and the structure of the meibomian glands responsible for producing tears.

When Fife graduated from the Southern California College of Optometry in 2001, the typical remedy for dry eye was eye drops, either prescription or over-the-counter. Drops provide temporary symptom relief, but they don’t solve the root cause of dry eye.

“There’s been a lot of research on dry eye over the past 20 years. Unfortunately, not every eye doctor is up to date on that, and many just keep prescribing artificial tears,” he said. “For many patients, we can do more.”

Fife now has a variety of dry eye treatment options at his disposal. At-home care includes taking Omega-3 supplements, applying warm compresses and performing eyelid massages. This conservative treatment approach is effective about 60% of the time in relieving symptoms by restoring balance in the tear film, he said. However, it may not prevent the progression of dry eye disease or provide long-term management.

Paradise Canyon Eye Care now offers intense pulsed light therapy in combination with Marco Equinox low-level light therapy, the latest in dry eye treatment technology, for patients with meibomian gland dysfunction. Developed by NASA, low-level light therapy uses specially designed LED lights to gently warm up the eyelids, causing the meibomian glands to unclog and release oils. Intense pulsed light therapy in combination with low-level light therapy creates a powerful new treatment method to more effectively reduce the symptoms of dry eye disease.

Light therapy for dry eye is a comfortable and non-invasive treatment, Fife said. The procedure is over in a matter of minutes, and there’s no recovery time. Patients simply lie back and relax as the warm light works to melt and stimulate oil production and expression, resulting in a more stabilized tear film which provides relief for dry eye symptoms.

“My goal is to get people off eye drops because they don’t need them if their eyes are functioning properly,” he added.

Fife and the Paradise Canyon Eye Care team are committed to providing advanced vision care for the entire family in a professional and welcoming environment. The clinic offers a wide array of primary care eye services, from fitting patients for glasses and contacts to managing eye diseases including cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration.

Schedule an appointment to see how Paradise Canyon Eye Care can help you bring better vision into focus. Call 435-656-2003 or visit ParadiseEye.com.

Written by ALEXA MORGAN for St. George News.

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