Dry Eye Therapy

Reclaim Your Eye Comfort

Comfort is crucial to enjoying your sight, whether at home, the office, or school.

Dry eye is a common issue that affects eye comfort and leads to numerous symptoms such as blurry vision, watery eyes, irritation, and more. Patients of all ages and backgrounds come to us seeking relief, and we’re happy to create a personalized strategy to help alleviate uncomfortable symptoms.

Dr. Mendez and her team are eager to help! Book an appointment with Chevy Chase Eyecare today.

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What Is Dry Eye?

Dry eye occurs when there’s an instability of your tear film. The tear film covers the surface of your eyes, keeping them hydrated, comfortable, and protected from external debris and bacteria.

However, if an issue affects your tear film, you can experience uncomfortable symptoms such as watery eyes, blurry vision, red eyes, irritation, light sensitivity, and difficulty wearing contact lenses. Dry eye can affect virtually anyone, regardless of age and background. However, some people might have a higher risk of developing this condition depending on their age, health history, or environment.

How We Diagnose Dry Eye

We use the OCULUS Keratograph 5m to get a complete view of your tear film and the structures that support it. Using this device, we can perform numerous dry eye tests like tear break-up time, meibography, and a comprehensive tear film evaluation to understand what may be causing your symptoms.

Treatment Strategies

We recommend treatments depending on the root cause of your symptoms. Some of the most common issues that can affect your tear film include:

Meibomian gland dysfunction
Medications
Hormone changes
Age
Health conditions like Sjögren’s syndrome

These issues affect the quality of your tear film and its 3 main components (mucus, water, and oil). Depending on your symptoms, you may need continuous dry eye treatment, but you could find relief through simple lifestyle changes.Dry eye can also cause symptoms similar to digital eye strain. Please visit our Digital Eye Strain page today to learn more about that condition.

InMode IPL

Intense pulsed light (IPL) is a noninvasive therapy that can help natural moisture last longer to alleviate dry eye. The treatment uses short bursts of light to stimulate the meibomian glands (oil-producing eyelid glands) and reduce inflammation that may block oil production.

We use InMode’s Lumecca IPL technology, which delivers 3 times more energy than similar devices, helping patients achieve initial results in just 1–2 sessions instead of the usual 4–6.

Medicated Eye Drops

We can prescribe medicated eye drops to help support your tear film and provide relief.

Punctal Plugs

Punctal plugs are small devices that are inserted in your tear ducts to prevent your tears from draining too quickly. We can perform this treatment in our office.

Eyelid Hygiene & Compresses

The meibomian glands that line your eyelids produce the oil content your tear film needs to prevent evaporation. However, if dirt, debris, or inflammation prevents these glands from producing oils, you can develop dry eye.

We can recommend various eyelid hygiene products to keep these glands clean. Or we can recommend warm compresses to help loosen and release blockages in your meibomian glands.

Amniotic Membranes

Amniotic membranes, collected from placental tissue, are full of healing properties that help soothe your eyes from irritating, uncomfortable dry eye symptoms.

Think of an amniotic membrane as a thin contact lens that helps prevent scarring and inflammation caused by dry eye.