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On this page you can find more information about different dry eye conditions and how you can treat them. Have a look at the text below and please write any comments that you might have.
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TREATING DRY EYE WITH KRILL OIL
Dry eye syndrome is distinguished by inadequate moisture in the eye. The problem may be due to insufficient tear production or mediocre quality of tears produced, causing the tears to vaporise more swiftly than typical.
The syndrome is widespread. Occurrence of dry eye gets more likely with increasing age. The disease appears to occur more commonly in women than men. Women comprise around 90 per cent dry eye sufferers, with most of them being in the menopausal stages.
A slew of symptoms signify dry eye syndrome. You may feel biting pain, itchiness, scratchiness, powdery sensations, sandiness, and foreign body feeling in the eye. Your vision becomes blurred and your eyes become extra sensitive to light. You may become averse to.
Krill Oil
Krill is a minute crustacean similar to shrimp. It flourishes in great numbers in the Earth's Polar Regions, where the waters are very cold and, relatively speaking, still quite uncontaminated. Krill serves as food to whales, salmon, and other fish species that navigate across the world's oceans.
Oil extracted from krill holds significant amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. Krill oil consists of about 44 per cent omega-3 fatty acids of which 19.2 per cent is eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and 14.1 per cent is docosahexanoic acid (DHA). These two are the most essential types of omega-3s, because they are more bio-available (that is, more readily absorbed) and utilised in cell metabolism than other types of omega-3.
Fish oils also have significant amounts of DHA and EPA in fish oils. Their molecular structures, however, differ significantly from krill oil-derived DHA and EPA. The DHA and EPA in fish oil come in the form of triglycerides, whilst krill oil DHA and EPA are in the form of double-chain phospholipid structure. The structural difference influences their bio-availability. Human cells metabolise only fatty acids constructed as phospholipids.
The impact is that DHA and EPA derived from krill oil are superior to those drawn out from fish oil in terms of bio-availability. Indeed, because of its remarkable bio-availability, you need only 2-3 capsules (about 500mg) of krill oil per day to obtain an effective therapeutic dose, compared to as many as 10 capsules a day for fish oil. Omega-3 fatty acids can contain inflammations very effectively. Krill oil can thus be a powerful medium for reining in the inflammatory reactions that lead to dry eye syndrome.
Just as important, krill oil is a plentiful source of astaxanthin, with 217mg of astaxanthin per gram of krill oil. Astaxanthin is often described as Nature's most potent antioxidant. It is far better than beta-carotene and vitamin E in neutralising free radicals in your system.
For the eye in particular, astaxanthin provides protection against retinal degradation from ultraviolet light. Studies have described how astaxanthin works better (by up to 200 or even 1000 times!) than beta-carotene and lutein at preventing fatty acids breakdown triggered by UV light. This property is specifically beneficial to the eye which, along with the skin, are the organs of the body most susceptible to ultraviolet light. Krill oil, through its appreciable astaxanthin content, helps neutralise the ultra-sensitivity to light experienced by dry eye patients.
Avoid taking krill oil if you exhibit allergic reactions to shrimp and crustacean species. Both krill oil and fish oil act as blood thinners so it is important to stay away from them if you are about to undergo surgery.
DRY EYE AND SJÖGREN'S SYNDROME
Sjögren's syndrome is a disease that reduces your body's secretions of tears and saliva. This gives rise to dry eyes (known medically as keratoconjunctivitis sicca, or KCS) and dry mouth (known as xerostomia).
Sjögren's syndrome is an autoimmune disorder, which implies that your body's immune system mistakenly attacks your own cells, mistaking them as foreign invaders like viruses and bacteria. The lymphocytes (one of many types of immune cells) in patients with the disorder selectively attack moisture-secreting glands.
The salivary (saliva-producing) and lachrymal (tear-producing) glands are in particular danger, as well as the the glands that produce sweat on your skin. The ability to secrete saliva and tears is inexorably impaired, resulting in dry mouth and dry eyes.
Sjögren's syndrome is also classified as a chronic rheumatic autoimmune disease. The bodies of individuals with the syndrome release auto-antibodies such as rheumatoid factor and anti-nuclear antibodies. There are semblances between Sjögren's syndrome and other autoimmune rheumatic disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, polymyositis (inflammation in many muscles), and dermatomyositis (inflammation in muscles plus distinctive skin rash).
Women make up more than nine of ten Sjögren's syndrome patients, especially those about 50 years of age. Children under 15 years old may also be impacted.
Dry Eye Symptoms
The most generally noticed symptom is the feeling of having a foreign matter in the eye, or of grittiness or sandiness. Burning feelings are also perceived. You may notice small lumps of thick strings of mucous around the inner corners of the eyelids, especially when you wake. You may feel redness in the eye, hyper-sensitivity to light, and a filmy sensation that blurs the vision. There are prevalent complaints about general eye discomfort and having a hard time with watching television and reading. Despite the lowered tear secretion, there are few reports about being unable to cry.
Dry Mouth Symptoms
The customary signs include chewing, swallowing, and speaking difficulties; food getting stuck on the inner cheek; abnormal taste or smell sensations; cracking in the tongue, mucous membranes, and lips (the corners of the mouth are particularly vulnerable); and, rampant tooth decay. Patients feel the huge desire to take in more liquids, especially at mealtimes or when consuming toast or a cracker.
The sufferer may complain dry nasal and throat passageways. The dryness may cause nosebleeds, hoarse throat, bronchitis or pneumonia, and even inflammation in the middle ear. The parotid gland (where one feels the mumps) becomes enlarged in half of Sjögren's syndrome patients.
In more serious cases, prescription medicine or surgery may be needed for treatment. You can take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to relieve specific manifestations such as arthritis. For more pervasive symptoms, your doctor may prescribe immune-suppressive medications or certain malaria-treatment drugs.
Minor surgery can be used for alleviating dry eye symptoms. This generally involves closing off the tear ducts with permanent silicone (or temporary collagen) plugs. The plugs are called punctal plugs since they are attached at the puncta, the points in your eye where tears start draining out. Another approach may be to utilise a laser to create a permanent seal.
For minor symptoms, the doctor may advise artificial tears or special eyedrops for dry eye treatment. Cyclosporine in a castor oil medium is a mainstay prescription medication that controls inflammation in the tear glands, inducing them to produce more tears.
You can use protective eyewear to protect the eyes in breezy environments. If you are indoors, do not go near the cooling vent or other devices that may blow strong airflows into your eyes. It will also help for you to increase the indoor humidity to reduce the tear loss from your eyes due to evaporation. Also, do not forget to always drink plenty of water.
Meibomian gland dysfunction is a common contributor to dry eye syndrome. It is alternatively termed MGD, meibomitis, and posterior blepharitis. MGD is quite complex, but it essentially includes inflammation in the meibomian glands of the eyelid, which produce the lipids (meibome) that make up the outer layer of the tear film. The enlargement may be due to a blockage on the gland passage at the eyelid margin.
The obstruction, in turn, may be result from an eyelid swelling from allergies or anterior blepharitis (in the front of the eyelid). The disorder may also be due to hormonal fluctuations, or dietary habits that impact the thickness of the lipids. Sometimes, the substance may appear deeply creamy and viscous, or even toothpaste-like; at other times, a dense fatty lump may coagulate at the entrance, blocking it. Another type of the dysfunction may involve heavy secretions of fatty substances causing irritation to the eyes, although no blockage of the glands occurs.
The consequence is that due to the disorder, the glands secrete abnormal fatty components. There may be an excess of or a lack of oil; the oil may be too viscous or too light. The net result is that there is little stability in the tear film and evaporation takes place at more rapid rates.
Conditions
The manifestations of the disease ordinarily are similar to symptoms associated with dry eye in general: burning sensation in the eye, sandiness, foreign object sensation, heightened sensitivity to light, and concretion along the lid margins. The lid margins appear thick and irritated and the inner margin of the eyelid may be dented because of scarring.
Meibomitis commonly occurs in association with insufficiency of aqueous tears. In such instances, you are likely to have specially pronounced dry eye symptoms. Approximately 60 per cent of Sjögren's syndrome patients (who suffer aqueous tear insufficiency) have been observed to also be burdened by MGD. Other skin conditions like rosacea and seborrhoea - which generally result in blepharitis - are also associated with MGD. These associated conditions should also be kept in mind during the treatment of meibomian gland dysfunction.
The chance of developing meibomitis seems to increase as you age. It may be that the meibomian glands gradually deteriorate in their functioning, or that age-associated adaptations in the eyelids may lead to abnormal blink mechanisms. What has been observed is that normal eyelids in elderly patients exhibit many of the adaptations in structure and form observed in meibomitis.
MGD is also linked with long-term contact lens use. Contact lenses increase the tear evaporation rate. Rapid evaporation can promote contact lens intolerance and further deteriorate the condition in people whose tear films are already damaged to begin with. Similarly, meibomian gland dysfunction is also generally noted in people with giant papillary conjunctivitis (GPC) and chalazion (plural, chalazia; a lump that remains after a sty on the eyelid heals).
Treatment
Meibomitis, being a rather intricate dysfunction, has many possible causes. In any person, the disorder may originate from one or more of these causes. Your doctor will have to keep these in mind as the treatment program proceeds.
The first order of business in treatment is to manage inflammation on the eye surface, in order to reduce the consequences of bacterial activity on the eyelid rim, normalise lipid function, and minimise the corollary dry eye symptoms.
Topical steroids can be recommended to manage inflammation, although this is not usually resorted to to avoid the high risk of side effects. But newer compounds, such as loteprednol, are not as risky and are reasonably effective at dissipating inflammation. Specially compounded topical cyclosporine, such as cyclosporine emulsion in a castor oil base, has also been used with great success to minimise eye surface inflammation.
Essential fatty acids, particularly omega-3 fatty acids, have been mentioned in many informal reports with the power to decrease dry eye symptoms, largely because of their proven anti-inflammatory properties. Their anti-inflammatory action has also been observed to improve meibomian gland disease.
Lid scrubs can be very beneficial. Scrubbing the eyelid margin helps dislodge bacteria and their toxins, as well as clears meibomian gland ducts. Overzealous cleansing can cause inflammation, however, and should be avoided. Punctal plugs, artificial tears (without preservatives), and tear stimulants also deliver relief.
For more information about how to treat dry eye read the following blogs:
- The best dry eye treatment : blog about the best way of treating dry eye
- How to cure dry eye blog : advice and tips on how to cure dry eye
- Dry eye remedy blog : detailed information, photos and videos on dry eye treatment
