It’s easy to take your eye health for granted when you can see clearly. However, eye conditions can arise that may be uncomfortable as well as a danger to your good vision. That’s why it’s important to visit your eye doctor near Windham on a regular basis to assess your ocular health. If your eyes have been feeling dry, gritty, itchy, or sandy, it’s possible that you are suffering from dry eye. Dry eye can be a minor nuisance or a major interruption to your daily life, making it difficult to work, read, and to do other tasks. There are a number of ways to treat dry eye, but the most effective will treat the root cause, not just the symptoms. Read on to learn how IPL is used to treat dry eye.
Causes of Dry Eye
Essentially, dry eye happens when there are not enough natural tears to keep the eyes moist and lubricated. This can happen when your eyes simply do not produce enough tears because of age, medical conditions, certain medications, or even environmental factors. In other cases, the quality of the tears produced is poor, resulting in your eyes feeling dry and scratchy. When dry eye is severe, it is more than just uncomfortable; it can also result in damage to the eye’s surface and affect your vision.
IPL Treatment
IPL, or intense pulsed light, therapy addresses the underlying causes of dry eye so that you can improve your overall quality of life. This treatment uses powerful bursts of light to create heat within the eye, helping to open up the glands. Unlike eye drops and antibiotics, IPL typically produces immediate results so you’ll feel more comfortable right away. Patients undergoing IPL therapy typically go back to the eye doctor once or twice per year for additional treatments, which take only a few minutes to complete. Make sure you talk to your eye doctor if you are experiencing changes in your vision or eye health, even if you think it will go away on its own.