What is Dry Eye Disease

What is “Dry Eye Disease”

Dry Eye Disease (also known as Dry Eye Syndrome) is a condition that occurs when the eyes either don’t produce enough tears to stay hydrated or don’t produce tears of good quality. As a result, the eyes struggle to remain wet enough for healthy function. Some lifestyle habits such as frequent screen time, inadequate sleep, and eye strain from reading can aggravate dry eye.

Summary of Stats

About 16 million adults in the US suffer from dry eye disease. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28705660/)
Internet searches for “dry eye syndrome” have more than doubled in the last 10 years. (https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%2Fm%2F03ckn0)
Women are more than twice as likely as men to develop dry eye symptoms. (https://www.aoa.org/news/clinical-eye-care/diseases-and-conditions/new-study-dry-eye-disease?sso=y)
51% of sufferers of moderate dry eye reported decreased work efficiency since the COVID-19 pandemic due to their condition. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8462938/)

Symptoms

A sufferer of dry eye will likely experience symptoms of scratchiness, redness, and (paradoxically) excessive tearing. These are all natural ways your eyes respond to irritation from dry conditions, but their attempts to fix the problem can be extremely debilitating in day-to-day life.