Dry eye and sight

[zhousu]

Will dry eye affects sight? Is a person with dry eyes more easy to get shortsighted than those without?

[Michael2]

myopic

IDK but I've been told that people who are myopic are more likely to have episodes of dry eyes.

[sanna]

I think that if you have dry eyes (very dry eyes) you could get blurry vision (Not so clear vision). I do not think that it will make you shortsighted or longsighted. Dry eyes can damage your cornea if you do not treat it and it can cause vision problems i think.

Why are Myopic people more likely to have dry eyes? I do not think that is true. If you use contact lenses maybe.

[Michael2]

this is just what my neurologist told me....myopic people are more likely to have occurrences of dry eye periods as compared to the rest of the population. maybe something to do with the shape of the eye?

[nycdryeyegirl]

Hi,

From my own personal experience I have found that when I had mild dry eyes in the past, my vision was not affected at all. For the past fifteen months or so, I've had severe dry eyes and my vision has become a little worse (it was fluctuating between 20/30 to 20/40) and now it seems to be staying at 20/40. I would to add that I have the beginnings of cataracts in both eyes, so perhaps that contributes to my decreased vision

Pam

[sanna]

this is just what my neurologist told me....myopic people are more likely to have occurrences of dry eye periods as compared to the rest of the population. maybe something to do with the shape of the eye?

Maybe its true but than i really do not understand why there are lasik doctors at all and what they do. (Every doctor knows you should not have lasik if you have dry eyes but still most people are myopic before lasik)

[ringo]

I definitely think that dry eye affects vision; besides being more blurry, i have become short-sighted.

[Rebecca Petris]

I've never read anything medical connecting dry eyes and myopia in any way.

Dry eye certainly affects vision though because the preocular tear film is an important part of the whole light-refracting function of the front of the eye. When the tear film is seriously compromised, the refractive surface is too in some degree.

By the way, for those of you who have heard these comments saying myopic people are more likely to have dry eye, with whom are they being compared? Everyone else? People with a different form of refractive error, people with no refractive error? Just curious.

Of course, we formerly myopic (i.e. lasiked) people are also more likely to have dry eye

[Michael2]

Rebecca you're probably completely right...but when I went to a highly regarded neurologist, that's what she told me. I have no proof...I was thinking perhaps the shape of a myopic eye lends to dryness? I'm curious as to whether people who have dry eyes (from an idiopathic standpoint, as opposed to LASIK) are more commonly myopic or just regular sighted. would be an interesting study

[Moonraker]

[QUOTE=Rebecca Petris;47411.

... Dry eye certainly affects vision though because the preocular tear film is an important part of the whole light-refracting function of the front of the eye. When the tear film is seriously compromised, the refractive surface is too in some degree.[/QUOTE]

That's the impression I've formed over the years. My right eye has become drier over the past three months, and I did wonder if I was developing a "secondary cataract" (having had the original removed almost three years ago) because,for example, large digits on TV screens appeared slightly fragmented and other text was harder to read.

I wonder how sight-tests for spectacles allow for this?

Moonraker

[zhousu]

Has anyone heard about cases where dry eye induced blindness? If the answer is yes, then can the blindness be treated?

[littlemermaid]

I would search pubmed.gov on this ('dry eye' -> untreated keratitis, corneal infiltrate, opacity -> blindess), maybe then find local specialists. International eye charities target rural China, eg Orbis, treat by keratoplasty.

Zhonghua Yan Ke Za Zhi. 2006 Aug;42(8):673-5.

[Emphasis on basic research for corneal diseases]
[Article in Chinese]

Liu ZG, Zhang H.

Corneal disease is the second leading cause of blindness in China. Improvement of the diagnosis and treatment of corneal disease depends on the deepening and widening of the basic research in this area. In some fields, the research conducted in our country has reached the top level in the world. However, in general, obvious disparities exist between China and the developed countries in terms of lack of systematic research, limited financial support, the insufficiency of the quality and quantity of researchers and so on. Based upon the current situations of China, the future basic research on corneal diseases should focus on the mechanism of infectious corneal diseases, gene mutation of corneal dystrophy, corneal tissue engineering, the pathogenesis of dry eye, the reconstruction after severe chemical burns of ocular surface, the pathogenesis of ocular surface neovascularization, the prophylaxis and therapy of corneal graft rejection, etc. Other important measures to improve the basic research of corneal diseases in our country would include applying for more research funds, training high quality researchers, and strengthening the cooperation with different disciplines and with other countries.