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If you wear contact lenses you may be at particular risk to develop the condition known as dry eye, where your eyes may feel dry and scratchy. Lauren Gormley, an optometrist at Johns Hopkins, describes why wearing contacts may precipitate the condition.

Gormley:  Where contact lenses become a cause for dry eye is that your natural tear film is meant to support your cornea, so when you put a contact lens on the eye, especially soft contact lenses, they also need your tear film in order to stay hydrated. They will grab those tears before the cornea can get what it needs. But when you think about lubrication would you say contact lens rewetting drops which are eye drops over the counter usually where the contact lens solutions are that are meant to lubricate the contact lenses.  :29

Gormley notes that manufacturers of contact lenses are aware of the relationship between dry eye and wearing contacts, and are always investigating new materials that may remain hydrated on their own for longer periods of time. She notes that not wearing lenses for extended periods is also a good idea. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.

Dry eye can develop for a number of reasons, whether it’s because oil glands at the base of your eyelashes aren’t making enough oil or you aren’t producing sufficient tears to keep your eyes lubricated. Lauren Gormley, an optometrist at Johns Hopkins, says there are both over the counter and prescription medicines to help.

Gormley: These treatments can be aimed at the eyelids to improve the oil layer of the tear film or they can be treatments to help the cornea if there is a lot of dryness on the cornea itself, but again, whatever you're doing for dry eye keeping in mind that dry eye is a chronic condition so there's no cure. So whatever the management strategy is for dry eye as the person who has dry eye you should expect to continue to need to manage it. You're not going to get it better and it's going to stay better, there's going to be a strategy that you need to keep things under control.    :33 

Gormley says don’t get frustrated if you don’t immediately get relief for dry eye as many treatment options exist. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.

People with dry eye tend to try to self-manage for some time, with a range of over the counter products available to them. Lauren Gormley, an optometrist at Johns Hopkins, says many become frustrated and seek help.

Gormley:  By the time you get to a dry eye assessment I may be recommending things in the management that can be more specific over the counter products, a specific artificial tear, it could be ocular hygiene products which are products that keep the eyelids clean and also help to balance the natural bacteria that live by the eyelashes, they could be vitamins, it could be warm compresses or cold compresses depending on what I see. But those recommendations are all going to be specific to the type of dry eye for the specific patient that I see.   :32 

Gormley says aging, workplace utilization of computers and additional screen time, and female sex all increase the chances that you will develop dry eye, but prospects for successful management of the condition are good. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.

If you have dry eye it’s important to know what type it is, since that will determine best possible management strategies. That’s according to Lauren Gormley, an optometrist at Johns Hopkins.

Gormley: The more type of dry eye is evaporative dry eye which comes from the eyelids. There are little oil glands in your eyelids that have openings right behind the eyelashes and when you blink it's that little mechanical pressure of the eyelids touching itself that pulls the oils out of the glands. That layer of oil goes on top of the water layer of the tear film and that keeps the tears together, so it protects the water layer. So if the oil layer of the tear film isn't healthy or if the eyelids aren't healthy the water layer of the tear film will evaporate too quickly.     :34

Gormley says the good news is there are a number of treatments to help with evaporative dry eye, so chances are you’ll be able to work with your provider to determine the best one for you. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.

Dry eye is just what it sounds like, a syndrome that produces the sensation of dry eyes. Lauren Gormley, an optometrist at Johns Hopkins, says conditions may have been right for you to develop the condition but a lifestyle change may have been the precipitating factor.

Gormley: One of the first things that you assess when you're doing a dry eye evaluation is if there is anything that has changed. That could be lifestyle changes, so that could be somebody who wasn't doing 8 to 10 hours of computer work a day now has changed jobs doing 8 to 10 hours of computer work a day and their tier film isn't healthy enough or stable enough to handle that screen time. What looking at screens does and that can be computer screen, cell phone screens, iPads, your blink rate and the quality of your blink will decrease consistently. That's the type of lifestyle factor that can come in and all of a sudden it feels like you have dry eye.    :33 

Gormley says regardless of what caused the condition to show up, evaluation is important to make sure there’s nothing more serious going on, and to personalize a management approach. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.

Millions of Americans have dry eye, a troubling and sometimes serious condition affecting the parts of the eye that are in contact with our external environment. Lauren Gormley, a optometrist at Johns Hopkins, describes some of the known risk factors.

Gormly: Smoking I put that in sort of the lifestyle factor. So other can be contact lens wearing or increased screen time. Women have the highest percentage of dry eye but specifically women over 50. This stems from the hormone changes that start for most women in their 40s when their testosterone levels start to drop as a normal part of aging. And that testosterone is important for maintaining and regulating the oil glands in the eyelids which secrete one of the layers of the tear film.          :30

Autoimmune conditions such as Sjogren’s syndrome may also cause dry eye, and seasonal allergies play a role, too. So when the condition persists seeking an expert opinion is wise, Gormley says. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.