Personalized Care for Longer-Lasting Relief

Dry eye is more than momentary eye discomfort. Symptoms are chronic and can change your daily comfort and vision, keeping you from focusing on life’s little moments and the big-picture tasks. Without treatment, dry eye can increase your risk of eye infections and scarring, permanently impairing your vision.

Dry eye therapy is a personalized treatment program to help you find relief from dry eye. Contact Kuzo Eye Care and Dry Eye Center for a consultation today, so we can help you experience longer-lasting relief.

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What Is Dry Eye?

Dry eye is a disease that can cause various, often fluctuating, symptoms. Dryness is only one possible symptom. You may also experience:

  • Blurred vision
  • Excessive watering
  • Gritty or burning eyes
  • Irritation or redness

Feeling like there’s an object stuck in the eye or fighting the urge to close your eyes are also common. We can evaluate your individual experience to tailor a treatment plan to your symptoms and lifestyle.

Relief for Dry Eye

Dry eye is a complex condition caused by multiple factors. Effectively managing symptoms benefits from a comprehensive approach, focusing on all factors contributing to your discomfort. We evaluate your eye health, discuss your lifestyle, and help you plan for your environment, so you can make informed decisions to protect your eyes.

Dry eye therapy is a plan personalized for your lifestyle. We can recommend or prescribe at-home care options like eye masks, lid-cleaning treatments, or nutrition tips. We can also work with you to offer appropriate in-office treatments, including IPL therapy.

IPL Therapy

IPL (intense pulsed light) therapy uses controlled light to gently heat the area around the eye, including the meibomian glands (oil glands inside the eyelids). The heat helps melt oil clogged in the glands, allowing the oil to flow freely. The heat can also eliminate excess bacteria contributing to inflammation.

Radiofrequency (RF)

We offer OptiPLUS by Lumenis RF treatment to target the root causes of dry eye. RF stimulates the meibomian glands to enhance the natural production of tears and improve tear film stability.

OptiPLUS is a noninvasive, in-office procedure that helps promote better gland function and relieve uncomfortable dry eye symptoms.

Nutraceuticals

Your tears supply nutrients to the eye’s surface. When the quality of tears is lacking, improving your nutritional intake can help support healthier tear production.

Nutritional supplements like PRN omega-3 products, including DE3, contain a concentrated amount of EPA and DHA (omega-3 fatty acids). Many over-the-counter omega-3s use a synthetic or unpurified form, which is difficult to absorb and can leave a fishy aftertaste. PRN omega-3s use a purified form, similar to the form found in fish, but with no fishy odor.

Nasal Spray

Tyrvaya (varenicline solution) is a nasal spray used as a dropless dry eye treatment. The solution stimulates the nerve connected to tear release, causing the lacrimal and meibomian glands to lubricate the eye. The lacrimal glands produce the watery layer of tears, while the meibomian glands produce the oily layer (to prevent evaporation).

Using a nasal spray means patients don’t have to put a drop into irritated eyes. It can also be easier for patients who lack fine motor skills to instill drops.

The nasal spray is administered in each nostril twice daily.

TearCare

The TearCare system uses localized heat to help improve tear quality by stimulating the meibomian glands. These glands produce the oily layer of tears which prevents tears from evaporating too quickly.

The device applicators are placed on the upper and lower eyelids, simultaneously warming the meibomian glands in both eyelids. The applicators allow for natural blinking, so patients can feel more comfortable during their treatment.

TearCare treatment is commonly followed by meibomian gland expression (gently massaging the eyelids to help release any clogged oil).

LLLT or Cold Laser Therapy

Low-level light therapy (LLLT) is known as cold laser therapy because the low levels of light create low levels of heat (not enough to significantly heat body tissue). The treatment uses LEDs (light-emitting diodes) to gently warm the eyelids, which targets the meibomian glands (oil-releasing glands).

LLLT can uniquely treat both the upper and lower eyelids, as many light therapies are only applied to the lower eyelids. As a result, LLLT can significantly improve symptoms and tear quality.

Prokera

Prokera is a treatment intended to stimulate healing of the eye’s surface. It utilizies amniotic membrane tissue to create a protective barrier covering the cornea, placed like a contact lens. The tissue has natural healing properties to help reduce inflammation and scarring. Prokera is the only FDA-approved cryopreserved amniotic membrane.

Prokera can help with a range of conditions affecting the eye’s surface, including dry eye, keratitis, and corneal defects.

ZEST Eyelid Debridement

Zocular Eyelid System Treatment (ZEST) eyelid debridement is an innovative approach to managing eyelid hygiene and soothing dry eye symptoms.

ZEST is an in-office treatment that uses okra-based formulas and micro sponge technology to exfoliate the eyelids, cleansing and unclogging meibomian glands while promoting healthy tear production and relieving discomfort. ZEST can be an excellent strategy for those with blepharitis, meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD), and dry eye.

Evaluating Dry Eye

Before we can treat your symptoms, we need to understand the contributing causes. So we examine the health of your eyes, including the tear film.

The cornea (clear front of the eye) has no blood supply and therefore receives the nutrients it needs to repair and function from tears. The tear film coats the eye, keeping the eye’s surface moist, nourished, and clear.

Tears have 3 components. The watery, oily, and mucous layers are crucial to forming healthy tears and preventing moisture from evaporating. By testing your tear film, we can determine the quality and quantity of each layer.

InflammaDry

InflammaDry is a rapid, in-office test used to detect MMP-9, an inflammatory protein marker consistently showing elevated amounts in patients with dry eye. A tear film sample is taken from the lower eyelid, and test results are achieved in about 10 minutes. Identifying the marker can indicate the tear glands are affected by inflammation.

Meibography

Meibography is an imaging study of the meibomian glands (tear glands inside the lower and upper eyelids). The meibomian glands produce the oily layer, essential for preventing evaporation of the tear film.

Evaluating the health of meibomian glands helps detect problems contributing to dry eye. Patients with dry eye can see the difference between their glands and healthy ones with a side-by-side comparison.

Topography

Corneal topography is a photography technique used to create a 3D map of the cornea (the clear front covering of the eye). The cornea is naturally smooth, but flaws or distortions make your eye as unique as a fingerprint.

A topography scan helps us measure corneal curvature and evaluate the eye’s surface health, so we can identify contact lens prescriptions, diagnose disease, or plan for surgery.