If your eyes don’t produce enough tears to adequately lubricate your eyes, or if your tears dry too quickly, there can be some consequences that lead to serious consequences for your vision. Diagnosing dry eyes that might cause lasting issues with your sight is the job of your vision specialists at Lappen Eye Care.

What is Dry Eye Syndrome?

Detecting dry eye syndrome is the job of the trained professionals at our four locations in the Pittsburgh area. If you experience discomfort from dry eyes, be sure to mention the problem to your eye doctor at your next appointment. Early detection of a problem can be key to successful treatment. Left untreated, chronic dry eyes might lead to corneal ulcers, conjunctivitis, an inability to wear contact lenses, extreme light sensitivity, migraine headaches, or mood disorders, including depression.

Most of the issues associated with chronic dry eye are readily treatable by your professional eye doctor, but it pays to understand that tears are necessary for optimal eye health. Go ahead and cry during sad movies — it’s good for your eyes. But, if at other times and during normal activities, your eyes are frequently red or if they feel gritty or sandy, you should ask your vision specialist or family eye doctor to check for chronic dry eye.

Things to Avoid if Your Eyes Are Dry

Wind, interior air conditioning, and too much screen time can exacerbate dry eye issues, so you might want to keep a log that details when and how often your eyes feel overly dry. Over-the-counter drops can help alleviate symptoms, but if your eyes are continually dry or if your vision becomes blurred, you should schedule a consultation with your eye professional.

Our doctors will perform the necessary tests to determine what further actions will benefit your dry eye condition.

Request an appointment at one of our convenient locations. Protecting your eyes is one of the best ways to boost overall wellness and enjoy life. Don’t put that off.

People worldwide experience dry eye disease, and some don’t even know it. Dry eye disease in Pittsburg, PA, occurs when your eyes don’t produce enough tears, those tears dry up too quickly, or both. But before your eye doctor can determine if you have dry eye disease, they will need to perform one or more of the following tests.

Testing for Dry Eye Disease
Here is what you can expect.

Slit Lamp Exam
The Slit lamp exam checks to see how much tear production your eyes are producing. This is done by your eye doctor shining a light into each individual eye. They then use a microscope to inspect your eyes.

Schirmer’s Test
The Schirmer’s test involves your eye doctor in Pittsburgh, PA placing a small piece of paper across your eyelid. It will be left there for several minutes, causing your eyes to produce tears. The doctor will then measure your tears by examining how much of the paper is covered.

Tear Breakup Time (TBUT) Test
The Tear Breakup Time test checks your eyes for how quickly your tears evaporate. Your eye doctor will dye your eyes and use a microscope to see how long the tear film remains. This is checked by measuring the amount of time between your last blink and when the first dry spot on your eye shows up. You might have dry eye disease if it’s fewer than 10 seconds.

Antibody Tests
Antibody tests are sometimes performed to check and see if you have any underlying medical conditions.

Do You Need an Optometrist in Pittsburgh, PA?
You should never leave eye issues untreated, or else you risk them getting worse. Contact Lappen Eye Care today to schedule a dry eye evaluation. We have state-of-the-art equipment and resources to provide you with the best optical care available.

Blurry eyes are a relatively common condition that most people experience when they’re tired or after staring at a screen for too long. When you become accustomed to it, though, it becomes easier to ignore. If dry eyes cause the blur, this could be more dangerous than you think. We’ll look at why it’s so important to visit a doctor if you have symptoms.

Chronic Dry Eyes

Chronic dry eyes in Pittsburgh, PA, are a condition that occurs when your eyes don’t produce enough tears or your eyes don’t produce the right type of tears. Because the lubrication comes from both water and oil, you can still experience dry eyes even if your eyes water on a regular basis.

Dangers of Dry Eye

Dry eyes are by no means life-threatening and, on the list of possible medical problems, would rank relatively low on the list. However, if you’re not addressing dry eyes, it can lead to damage to the eye tissues. This is because, over time, the lack of tears can lead to a breakdown of the protective cells of the eye. If your eyes are extremely dry on a regular basis, it can even lead to a cornea scratch. The best way to treat dry eye is to find an optometrist in Pittsburgh, PA, with enough experience to find a long-term solution.

Eye Doctors in McMurray, PA

Lappen Eye Care, with locations in McMurray, Pittsburgh, and Greensburg, PA, has optometrists who can tell you more about how to treat your dry eyes. If you’ve ever found yourself struggling to see because the sting in your eyes is so strong, it’s important not to wait. Making an appointment with us can help you learn more about what’s causing dry eyes so you can move ahead.

Your eyes may sometimes feel like one of the more mysterious organs in your body. Maybe they feel fine during the day, but as soon as you start your wind-down routine, they start to sting. If you can’t trace this cause back to a one-off event, such as an all-night binge session of your favorite show, we’ll look at why you might feel dry eyes in Pittsburgh, PA only at night.

The Body Is Slowing Down

Your dry eyes are likely reacting to the tear evaporation process that takes place throughout the day. This is a natural occurrence that everyone experiences, though not everyone will have a reaction to it. If your eyes feel dry if you wake in the middle of the night, it’s likely because the blood circulation slows down. The slower the blood, the fewer nutrients your eyes receive.

In rarer cases, you might have a condition that doesn’t allow your eyes to close while you’re asleep. Known as nocturnal lagophthalmos, it could be due to a chronic eyelid injury (e.g., after surgery) or because of a deformity with the eyelid. If you think that your eyelids are not closing properly, this is more serious than occasional stinging and more likely to result in an eye injury (due to the exposure.

Dry Eyes in Greensburg, PA

If you’re looking for relief from dry eye, either during the day or at night, contacting the right eye doctor can help. While eye drops from the drugstore can certainly bring comfort, you may need more than a quick fix. At Lappen Eye Care, our eye doctors in Pittsburgh, PA can help you figure out the source of your dry eye and how you can best combat that stinging sensation from morning to night.

Dry eye can happen at any time, but many people experience it most in the fall and winter, when the air turns dry and cold. If you’re one of those people who suffers from dry eye in the latter part of the year, your eye doctor in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area can help you.

At Lappen Eye Care, we help patients manage their dry eye first by identifying the cause of the problem, and then by making recommendations based on the diagnosis. Sometimes, dry eye can be resolved by making simple changes like the ones below.

1. Humidify your environment at home.

A dry environment can contribute to dry eyes. Humidifying your environment at home, especially the rooms where you spend the most time, can help. Use a humidifier in your bedroom, living room, or in other parts of the house where you regularly spend time.

2. Protect your eyes from glare and wind.

Glare on snow and harsh cold wind can contribute to dry eye. Wear sunglasses, particularly the wrap around kind, to protect your eyes on days when it’s cold, windy, or snowy.

3. Use over the counter eye drops.

Use over the counter eye drops to moisturize your eyes and relieve some of the most uncomfortable effects of dry eye. Over the counter eye drops are sold in pharmacies, convenience stores and grocery stores. If over the counter eye drops don’t help, then you may need to see the eye doctor.

4. Talk to your eye doctor.

If making the above changes to your eyes aren’t helping with your dry eye, then you may need dry eye treatment in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area. Talk to your eye doctor at Lappen Eye Care to find out what else can be done to fix your problem.