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Bordering Cedar Park & North Austin, minutes from Lakeline Mall. NW Corner of El Salido Pkwy & 620, behind AutoZone.

Home » Dry Eye Treatment in Austin, TX » How is Dry Eye Syndrome Diagnosed?

How Is Dry Eye Syndrome Diagnosed

How Is Dry Eye Syndrome Diagnosed?

Lipiscan

Sometimes, a visual inspection of the eyes isn’t enough. Since a problem with the meibomian glands (which produce those essential lubricating lipids) is most often to blame for chronic dry eyes, it’s important to get the best digital image of the meibomian glands possible. That’s why dry eye specialists use LipiScan, which takes a high-resolution digital image of the lower AND upper glands.

Such imaging tells us a lot about how healthy your oil glands are. Are they healthy? Blocked? Dilating? Atrophied? Gunky? Is the oil cloudy or clear? ― cloudy oil indicates the presence of a bacterial infection which thickens the oils until they simply are no longer effective. This we can usually clear up with antibiotics.

Our Dry Eye Specialist in Austin provides cutting-edge treatment for dry eyes that’s fully tailored to your specific situation. We diagnose and assess your eyes using the latest technology combined with good old-fashioned visual exams, questions, and all-around great patient care that will get to the core cause of your condition. For example:

  • How effectively are you blinking? How often?
  • Are your tear ducts lined up properly?
  • What’s the osmolarity of your tears?
  • How fast do your tears break down?
  • What is your tear volume?
  • Do your tear ducts line up properly?
  • What shape are your meibomian glands in? Are they blocked? Dirty? Infected?

The Dry Eye Exam

Our dry eye doctor will also conduct an in-depth assessment of indicators for other diseases and health problems which might be contributing factors to your dry eyes. We then develop a personalized treatment plan based on what we find, and ongoing based on what’s working for you.

On every patient questionnaire, we ask if you are suffering from any of the typical symptoms of dry eyes. Do your eyes feel gritty? Sore? Do you feel like something is in your eye or that you just don’t seem to have any tears? If you report symptoms of dry eye or appear to exhibit those symptoms, then we recommend beginning the dry eye exam process, which is quick, easy, and painless.

Tear Lab – what exactly goes into healthy tears?

Tear LabThe first thing we want to check is the stability of the tear film. We use TearLab to test the osmolarity of your tears― that is, the relative concentrations of salts, water, and lipids (fatty oils). These lipids are produced by the meibomian glands. Most cases of dry eyes occur where there is a problem with these glands. They could be blocked, atrophied, or otherwise damaged. If your tears evaporate too quickly (which causes burning), it’s usually caused by a lack of these lipids.

A strong imbalance between the osmolarity of one eye vs. the other is a strong indication that someone has dry eye disease.

Phenol Red Thread Test

Depending on the results of the TearLab, our Austin Dry Eye specialist will also want to see if the overall volume of tears could be the problem. In some cases, the meibomian glands are producing the lipids needed for lubrication, but they’re just isn’t enough of the aqueous layer (this means tears) to spread it around effectively.

In order to test this, our optometrist will place a thin piece of red thread draped over the eyes for a few seconds in order to measure how wet the eye gets and comparing the differential between the eyes.

InflammaDry

Another tool in the arsenal of our dry eye experts is InflammaDry, a specialized diagnostic tool which measures whether or not a patient has elevated levels of MMP-9 in their tears from the inner lining of the lower eyelid. MMP-9 is a protein which indicates inflammation, which is fairly common for anyone suffering from dry eyes.

Our eye doctor Our team of eye doctors will typically prescribe steroids in order to get the eye inflammation under control.

Fluorescein Dry Test

Our dry eye doctor will also test your tear breakup time. Sometimes, tears don’t last long enough to work effectively. In order to test this, we use a fluorescein orange dye to test the breakup time (as well as any other corneal diseases, conditions, or foreign bodies). Using a small blotting paper, the optometrist will lightly touch your eye. As you blink, the dye spreads and gently coats the tear film covering the cornea. Using a blue light (the dye is orange), problems will be revealed to the eye doctor as green.

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