What’s the solution for dry eyes?

D R Y E Y E A N D B L E P H A R I T I S C E N T E R

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Your eyelids are amazing muscles. You use them to blink about 10,000 times a day. The reason we blink is to moisturize the eye by coating the eye in tears. Dry eye is the result of your eye being improperly hydrated with tears.

What is dry eye?

Can dry eye be managed?If you suffer from dry eye, you don’t suffer alone. That’s why we created the Dry Eye & Blepharitis Center at Northwest Eye. This one-of-a-kind treatment center provides our doctors with the resources and tools to precisely diagnose and provide relief for your dry eye symptoms.

The challenge when diagnosing and treating dry eye is the vast number of conditions with similar symptoms. Without the right tools, zeroing in on the correct treatment path can be difficult. Obviously, drug-store trial and error is not the answer, and in fact, can often exacerbate your dry eye symptoms. For proper diagnosis, Be Eye Wise™and schedule an appointment at the Dry Eye & Blepharitis Center at Northwest Eye – because the more you know, the better you will see.

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• Fluctuations in vision• Stinging, burning or scratchy sensation in your eyes• Stringy mucus in or around your eyes• Sensitivity to light• Eye redness• A sensation of having something in your eyes• Difficulty wearing contact lenses• Difficulty with nighttime driving• Watery eyes, which is the body’s response to the irritation of dry eyes

• Blurred vision or eye fatigue

Symptoms:

Poor tear quality: Tears are a protector. This protection comes in three layers consisting of fatty oils, water and mucus. The outer fatty oils deter tear evaporation. The middle layer contains mostly water to cleanse the eye and carry oxygen to the ocular tissue. The inner mucus layer spreads tears evenly over the eyes and stabilizes the tear film. Miss a layer, or have a diminished layer, and you’ll suffer from dry eyes.

Low quantity of tears: Decreased quantity of tears is a result of not producing enough tears to moisten your eyes. There are many causes for decreased quantity of tears, including age, hormones, some medical conditions, certain medications, eye surgery, and damage to the tear glands, just to name a few.

What causes inadequate eye moisture?

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Your consultation and evaluation at the Dry Eye & Blepharitis Center at Northwest Eye will take about an hour. When you arrive you will watch a short video on dry eye.

Next, a Northwest Eye dry eye technician will perform an initial evaluation that enables the Northwest Eye doctors to provide a specific diagnosis and treatment plan.

DRY EYE DIAGNOSTIC TESTS INCLUDE:

LipiView®: Captures live images of the tear film and measures lipid content and quality. The test quantifies the lipid to help determine best treatment.

Tear Osmolarity: Measures the salt concentration of your tears to understand the stability of the tear film.

RPS InflammaDry®: Measures the level of MMP-9 in your tears to determine levels of inflammation present.

After the diagnostic testing you will meet with your doctor to discuss the results of your tests and the different treatment options available. Your doctor will put together a treatment plan unique to you and your dry eye diagnosis.

After meeting with the doctor, you will complete the consultation with one of our dry eye consultants. They will help summarize your treatment plan, answer any lingering questions you have and get you started towards a life free of dry eye.

What happens at a dry eye consultation?STEP

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STEP

2

STEP

STEP

3

4

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Dry eye is a highly treatable condition. Some situations can be addressed with over-the-counter nutritional supplements and drops. Other situations require non-surgical or minor surgical procedures to treat the underlying issue. In all cases, treating dry eye is worth the effort. Upon proper diagnosis, your Northwest Eye doctor will discuss what treatment options will provide the best outcome for your dry eye symptoms.

1. Retail and prescription solutions, including, but not limited to:

• Artificial tears

• Eye masks

• Topical prescription eyedrops

• Nutritional supplements

• Restasis®

• Xiidra™

2. Elective in-clinic procedures, including, but not limited to:

• Punctal plugs or cautery (procedure to plug the eyelid punctum)

• BlephEx® (removes excess bacteria, biofilm and bacterial toxins)

• LipiFlow® (opens and clears oil glands, allowing them to produce the oils needed for a healthy tear film)

Most retail and prescription products can be purchased at either Northwest Eye’s Optical

Dispensary or at your local pharmacy. We offer all elective procedures in-clinic. A few

of these procedures are covered by insurance, but two of the most impactful procedures,

BlephEx and LipiFlow, are not. Costs for these elective procedures are:

• BlephEx®: $99 total

• LipiFlow®: $495/eye

What treatments are available for dry eye?

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What does the diagnostic consultation cost?The dry eye consultation is a medical consultation; your medical insurance will be billed and you will be responsible for any co-pays, deductibles, or co-insurance due as part of your medical insurance benefit. There is also a $99 dry eye testing fee collected at the time of the appointment that covers additional, important testing that insurance will not cover.

Why is the diagnostic consultation important?Traditional dry eye treatment required a trial and error approach of experimenting with different types and frequency of eye drops to see if any offered symptom relief. Our Dry Eye Center will find out why you are experiencing dry eye symptoms and put you on the correct plan to alleviate those symptoms immediately.

Your center has blepharitis in the title. What is blepharitis?Blepharitis is a comon and persistent medical condition that can produce dry eye symptoms, but isn’t necessarily dry eye. By definition, blepharitis is inflammation of the eyelids associated with oily particles and bacteria coating the eyelid margin near the base of the eyelashes. If you are suffering from blepharitis, our center will diagnose this condition and put you on a specific plan to alleviate your discomfort.

Symptoms: • Gritty, burning or stinging sensation in the eye • Itchiness • Redness • Crusted eyelashes upon awakening • Watery eyes

Wondering...

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Dry eye is a common issue, but the time, technology and expertise Northwest Eye invests into diagnosing and treating dry eye is rather uncommon.

The Dry Eye & Blepharitis Center at Northwest Eye is an unrivaled resource in the region for identifying symptoms and addressing issues associated with dry eye. Its development demonstrates the commitment of Northwest Eye doctors to treating dry eye as a serious issue worthy of dedicated focus.

Be Eye Wise™ and see how the doctors of Northwest Eye set the standard for dry eye care.

about your questions and your eyes.Doctors who care

Janice M. Sinclair, M.D. Gerald P. Loushin, M.D.

Dane M. Peterson O.D., F.A.A.O.

Comprehensive Ophthalmologist Comprehensive Ophthalmologist

Comprehensive Optometrist

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ELK RIVER • GOLDEN VALLEY • MAPLE GROVE • MINNETONKA • ROBBINSDALE • ST. ANTHONY • WAYZATA

N W E y e C l i n i c . c o m 76 3- 416-76 0 0

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