Hydrate Your Eyes At McCulley Optix Gallery

Tears are far more than just a way to express your feelings. They play a vital role in the health of the eye and your clarity of vision. If you have ever experienced stinging, scratching, or burning sensations, you know how irritating dry eye disease can be.

Millions of Americans suffer from dry eye disease. Relief is available. At McCulley Optix Gallery, we’ll evaluate the causes of your dry eye disease and provide solutions.

Stop suffering from dry eye disease. Book your appointment with Dr. McCulley today.

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What Causes Dry Eye Disease?

We take our eyes for granted—until they are uncomfortable! Then it’s hard not to notice them. Dry eye disease can be the result of many different factors, including:

Age: Many people over the age of 65 experience some symptoms of dry eye disease.
Environment: Dry, windy, or smoky environments can play a role in dry eye disease.
Medications: Certain antihistamines, decongestants, and blood pressure medications can lead to reduced tear production.
Contact Lens Wear: Longtime use of contact lenses can contribute to dry eye disease. It’s just another reason why annual eye exams are recommended for contact lens users.
Laser Eye Surgery: Recent refractive surgery such as LASIK can cause a decrease in tear production.

Understanding Your Tears

Dry eye happens when your eyes either do not produce enough tears or your tears evaporate too quickly.

If your tears evaporate rapidly, one of the 3 components of your tears may be to blame. Oil, water, and mucus make up tears, and each part has an important role to play in hydrating—and protecting—the eye.

Water hydrates the eye, oil helps prevent the water from evaporating too quickly, and mucus spreads the tears over the entirety of the eye’s surface. A disruption in the balance of these 3 components can lead to dry eye.

If your eyes simply are not producing enough tears as a result of aging, environmental factors, or medications, you may experience dry eye disease symptoms.

Symptoms of Dry Eye Disease

If you’re experiencing any of the following symptoms, you may be suffering from dry eye disease:

Redness
Watery eyes
Stringy discharge
Foreign body sensation
Blurred vision
Gritty, scratchy feeling

If symptoms are unbearable and you believe you are suffering from an eye emergency, please do not hesitate to call Dr. McCulley.

BlephEx: Keeping Your Eyelids Healthy

A condition commonly associated with dry eye symptoms is blepharitis, an issue that can cause inflammation in your eyelids. Alongside common dry eye symptoms, it can also cause crusty, dandruff-like skin flakes on the edges of your eyelid.

It typically develops when there is too much bacteria on the edges of your eyelids, or if you have meibomian gland dysfunction. To help address these symptoms, our team can offer BlephEx treatments to help clean the edges of your eyelid and remove bacteria.

How Does BlephEx Work?

BlephEx is an in-office treatment that uses a small spinning sponge to gently clean and exfoliate your eyelids. In just a few minutes, BlephEx technology can remove bacteria from your eyelids and promote healthy tear production.

Does BlephEx Hurt?

Some patients experience a slight tickling sensation during their BlephEx treatment, but we can place a numbing drop into each eye to help provide you with additional comfort.

Is BlephEx Right for Me?

Before we can recommend BlephEx treatments, we will need to examine your eyes and determine the cause of your discomfort. In some cases, we may recommend BlephEx treatments alongside eyelid hygiene routines at home to help keep your eyes healthy and comfortable.

For some patients, we may recommend routine BlephEx treatments to help maintain your eye comfort while living with chronic dry eye.

Treat Dry Eye Disease Today

Relief for dry eye disease is available. There are a broad range of treatments that we will tailor to your specific circumstances.

Book an appointment and rehydrate your eyes today!

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Where to Find Us in Fargo

You can find us just west of Veterans Boulevard on 32nd Ave E. Heading west, take the second left after Veteran’s Boulevard. We are on the south side of the street.