In January’s edition of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Today, Jay Pepose, MD, PhD says….
A lot depends on treating patients with dry eye disease.
Nearly one in five individuals in North America has dry eye disease (DED); it may be one of the most common yet frequently undiagnosed and untreated problems seen every day by ophthalmologists.1 Less appreciated, perhaps, are the profound visual impact of DED and the progressive nature of the disease if left undiagnosed and untreated.
A hallmark of DED is the eye’s decreased ability to regulate tear osmolarity in response to adverse environmental challenges. As a result, the patient becomes susceptible to having a new, more hyperosmolar set point, further variation in tear osmolarity, and greater tear film instability. An increase in both the temporal and interocular variation and the absolute value of tear osmolarity is not only a component of all forms of DED, it is central to its pathogenesis2,3 (Figure 1).
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