Helping You Reclaim Your Eye Comfort
Dry eyes can be a frustrating and uncomfortable experience that can significantly affect your life. Dry eye is becoming increasingly common in our digital world, with many individuals experiencing hours of screen time daily.
But we’re here to help.
At RVEC, we believe excellent eye health and overall well-being are essential to a happy and healthy life. That’s why we offer comprehensive dry eye services that focus on more than just treating the symptoms; we aim to remedy the root cause and improve your overall eye health, supporting your quality of life.
Whether you’re dealing with chronic dry eyes or are experiencing symptoms for the first time, find lasting relief with the RVEC team today.
What Is Dry Eye?
Dry eye is an eye condition that affects the quality or quantity of tears you need to keep your eyes hydrated and comfortable.
Though dry eye is more common in adults, people can experience symptoms at any age. We can help address the issue by crafting a strategy unique to your needs, using modern diagnostic technology and treatment techniques.
Dry eye symptoms may include:
- Redness, irritation, and eye pain
- Scratchiness, grittiness, or a burning sensation
- Light sensitivity
- Fluctuating or blurry vision
- Contact lens intolerance
Types of Dry Eye
Before we can start treating you, it’s important to understand the different types of dry eye and how they affect your eye health. Dry eye has many distinct causes that can result in evaporative dry eye or aqueous deficiency dry eye.
Some of these causes and risk factors include:
- Meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) affecting the oil layer of your tear film
- Blepharitis, chronic inflammation of the eyelids, affecting tear production
- Medical conditions, such as thyroid disorders and autoimmune diseases
- Medication side effects
- Excessive sun and wind exposure or screen time
- Aging and a natural decline in tear production
We can create a treatment strategy best suited to your needs by determining what type of dry eye you have.
Evaporative dry eye is the most common form of dry eye, responsible for the majority of reported dry eye cases.
It occurs when your tears lack the necessary oils to keep them from evaporating. The most common cause of this version of dry eye is meibomian gland dysfunction—an issue that directly affects the production of oils for your tears.
Aqueous tear deficiency occurs when you’re not producing the water content necessary for keeping your eyes hydrated.
Though this version of dry eye is less common, you may risk developing it if you have health conditions like Sjögren’s syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis.
How We Evaluate for Dry Eye
A dry eye evaluation involves an assessment of your symptoms, medical and environmental factors, the ocular surface condition, the tear glands, and the different components of your tears. An ocular surface evaluation determines the condition of the front of your eye, which is exposed to the environment all day and becomes damaged with dry eye.
At RVEC, we use the Keratograph 5M to assess the health of the tear glands and the different components of your tears. This technology can help us accomplish several detailed tests, including meibography, tear breakup time, aqueous tear volume, and lipid tear integrity.
Meibography is an imaging technique that assesses the oil-producing glands, called meibomian glands, around the edges of your eyelids.
Tear breakup time tests help us determine how quickly your tears evaporate from your eye surface, an issue indicative of evaporative dry eye.
Testing your aqueous tear volume helps us determine how much water content is in your tears. Through this, we can determine if you have aqueous tear deficiency.
By analyzing the oily layer of your tears, we can determine if you’re struggling with symptoms of evaporative dry eye.
Dry Eye Treatment Strategies and Techniques
We tailor your dry eye treatment according to what’s causing your symptoms and how severe your symptoms are. While some people may find relief with minor lifestyle adjustments, others may need regular treatments to help soothe their symptoms.
We’ll gladly walk you through some of our strategies when you come in for a dry eye evaluation. Please take a moment to learn more about our most common techniques to address dry eye.
Suppose the edges of your eyelids have bacteria or debris causing inflammation, known as blepharitis. In that case, our BlephEx eyelid treatment can help clean and exfoliate the margins of your eyelids to help clear blockages of your tear glands, soothing and reducing your symptoms.
LipiFlow is a technology that can help address dry eye symptoms caused by meibomian gland dysfunction.
Using 2 applicators, the LipiFlow device gently warms and massages your eyelids to help melt blockages in your meibomian glands and promote a healthy flow of oils to your tears, addressing evaporative dry eye symptoms.
Intense regulated pulsed light therapy (IRPL) is an innovative dry eye treatment designed to address dry eye caused by meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) and blepharitis.
IRPL delivers pulses of light to the eyelids, which melt oil blockages inside the meibomian glands, restoring oil flow to the tear film to prevent evaporation.
We complete our IRPL treatment sessions with a ZEST cleanse as well. This natural, okra-based cleanser exfoliates the eyelids and opens up the meibomian glands, working together with IRPL to restore healthy tear production.
While many standard over-the-counter eye drops only offer limited improvement, we can help you with recommendations for products that can offer effective relief, such as Thealoz Duo, iDropPur, and Ocunox eye drops. We can also prescribe medicated eye drops or artificial tears to help restore your eye’s natural moisture balance.
Sometimes, we’ll recommend a few adjustments to your diet and overall environment to help support your eye comfort.
We can help you explore recommended home care solutions, like iRelief heat masks, preservative-free tear replacements, and eyelid cleansing products. We offer a range of premium dry eye products from iMedPharma, Thea Parma Inc., CandorVision, ProMED Eye Health Services, and Restoreyes.
The next step to addressing your dry eye concerns is recommending nutritional supplements. These help support the functions that produce healthy tears.
We offer a wide variety of dry eye supplements, including Omega-3s formulated for dry eye, available at our clinic or through our online store. Book an appointment today for an examination so we can recommend treatments and products to suit your individual needs.
Book Your Appointment Today
The RVEC family is here to provide you with the personalized care and attention you need to enjoy a better quality of life. With the help of modern technology, we’ll develop a comprehensive dry eye treatment plan personalized to your unique needs and lifestyle.
Make an appointment today to talk to one of our doctors about dry eye remedies that are right for your eyes. You can visit our online store to order a range of our recommended dry eye supplements and products.
Contact us today to book an appointment!
Brands We Carry
Visit Us in North Battleford or Unity
North Battleford
Address
- 1471-100 Street
- North Battleford, SK S9A 0W1
Contact Information
- Phone: 306-445-4451
- Email: info@rivervalleyeyecare.com
Hours of Operation
*Closed from 12:00-12:45 PM for lunch
Unity
Address
- 264-2 Ave West
- Unity, SK S0K 4L0
Contact Information
- Phone: 306-228-2722
- Email: info@rivervalleyeyecare.com
Hours of Operation
*Closed from 12:00-12:45 PM for lunch
**Contact the clinic for doctor availability. See social media for updated weekly hours.
About Us
Specialty Eye Care
Eyewear & Contacts
Our Locations
North Battleford
- 1471-100 Street
- North Battleford, SK S9A 0W1
Unity
- 264-2 Ave West
- Unity, SK S0K 4L0
Contact Us
North Battleford
- Phone: 306-445-4451
- Email: info@rivervalleyeyecare.com
Unity
- Phone: 306-228-2722
- Email: info@rivervalleyeyecare.com