Dry Eye Treatments

If you are seeking effective dry eye treatment in Richmond, relief starts with identifying whether your symptoms stem from tear evaporation or low production. At Frame & Focus Eye Care, we combine advanced 2025 FDA-approved therapies like Miebo™ with specialized in-office procedures to restore your ocular comfort and clear vision.

Key Takeaways: Clear Vision is Possible

• Dry Eye is Treatable: Discomfort, blurriness, and eye fatigue are symptoms of a chronic but manageable condition. You do not have to suffer silently.

• Start with Self-Care: Simple lifestyle adjustments—like regular blinking, increasing air humidity, wearing wraparound sunglasses, and staying hydrated—are the first effective steps to managing minor symptoms.

• OTC Drops Vary Widely: Select artificial tears based on your needs: low-viscosity for quick, clear relief during the day, and high-viscosity (gel-like) for longer-lasting lubrication at night.

• Specialty Lenses Can Help: Scleral or bandage contact lenses are available to continuously deliver moisture and comfort directly to the surface of the eye.

• Address the Root Cause: Treatments are specialized, focusing on why your tears are poor quality or insufficient, ranging from antibiotics (for inflammation) to tear-stimulating drugs and advanced procedures like LipiFlow or Punctal Plugs.

• Consult Your Optometrist: Only a professional eye exam can determine the underlying cause and prescribe the correct multi-tiered treatment plan, ensuring long-term comfort and ocular health.

While dry eye isn’t a serious condition, it can have a major impact on your quality of life. You may find your eyes get tired faster or you have difficulty reading. Not to mention the discomfort of a burning sensation or blurry vision. Let’s take a look at dry eye treatments – from simple self-care to innovative prescriptions and therapies – to help you see clearly and comfortably.

What is Dry Eye?

Understanding dry eye will help you determine the best treatment option. Dry eye occurs when a person doesn’t have enough quality tears to lubricate and nourish the eye. Tears reduce eye infections, wash away foreign matter, and keep the eye’s surface smooth and clear. People with dry eyes either do not produce enough tears or their tears are of poor quality. It’s a common and often chronic problem, especially in older adults.

The Modern Culprit: Digital Eye Strain & Evaporative Dry Eye

For our Richmond professionals and students, the workday often revolves around a screen. However, staring at a laptop reduces your blink rate by up to 60%. This leads to Evaporative Dry Eye, where your tears evaporate before they can do their job.

• The 20-20-20-20 Rule: You may know to look 20 feet away every 20 minutes for 20 seconds. In 2025, we recommend a fourth “20”: Perform 20 full blinks. This pumps essential oils from your glands back onto the eye surface.

• The Screen Connection: If your eyes feel tired and dry, specifically after work, you may be experiencing Computer Vision Syndrome.

Preventive Self-Care

Before we delve into more serious dry eye treatment options, here are a few simple self-care options that can manage minor cases of dry eye.

• Blink regularly when reading or staring at a computer screen for a long time.
• Make sure there’s adequate humidity in the air at work and at home.
• Wear sunglasses outside to reduce sun and wind exposure. Wraparound glasses are best.
• Take supplements with essential fatty acids, as these may decrease dry eye symptoms.
• Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water each day to avoid dehydration.
• Find out if any of your prescriptions have dry eye as a side effect, and if so, see if you can take an alternative.

Artificial Tears

For mild cases of dry eyes, the best option is over-the-counter eye drops. Here are a few tips for selecting the right one:

• Low viscosity – These artificial tears are watery. They often provide quick relief with little or no blurring of your vision, but their effect can be brief, and sometimes you must use these drops frequently to get adequate relief.
• High viscosity – These are more gel-like and provide longer-lasting lubrication. However, these drops can cause significant blurring of your vision for several minutes. For this reason, high-viscosity artificial tears are recommended at bedtime.

Beyond Artificial Tears: New FDA-Approved Drugs (2024–2025)

If you’ve tried over-the-counter (OTC) drops and found they only provide relief for minutes, it’s time to look at Mechanism-Specific Therapy. At Frame & Focus, we utilize the latest pharmaceutical breakthroughs to treat the root cause of your dryness.

[Schedule Your Richmond Dry Eye Evaluation with Dr. Zaver]

• Miebo™: This is the first and only FDA-approved drop specifically designed to stop tear evaporation by mimicking the eye’s natural lipid layer.

• Tyrvaya® Nasal Spray: A game-changer for those who struggle with putting drops in their eyes. This nasal spray activates the nerves in your nose to tell your body to produce more of its own natural tears.

• XDEMVY™: Specifically for patients whose dry eye is caused by eyelid inflammation or mites (Demodex).

Prescription Dry Eye Treatments

There are several prescriptions that treat dry eye differently. Your eye doctor can advise the best option for your situation.

• Contact Lenses – There are specialty contact lenses that deliver moisture to the surface of the eye. They’re called scleral lenses or bandage lenses.
• Antibiotics– If your eyelids are inflamed, this can prevent oil glands from secreting oil into your tears. Your doctor may recommend antibiotics to reduce inflammation.
• Anti-inflammatory drugs – These are eye drops to control inflammation on the surface of your eyes (cornea) using the immune-suppressing medication cyclosporine (Restasis) or corticosteroids.
• Eye Inserts – If artificial tears don’t help, another option may be a tiny eye insert. Once a day, you place the hydroxypropyl cellulose (Lacrisert) insert between your lower eyelid and your eyeball. It dissolves slowly, releasing a substance to lubricate your eye.
• Tear-stimulating drugs – Available as pills, gel, or eye drops, cholinergic (pilocarpine, cevimeline), these help to increase tear production.
• Autologous blood serum drops – For serious dry eye that’s not responding to other treatment, these eyedrops are made with a sample of your blood. It’s processed to remove the red blood cells and then mixed with a salt solution.

Home Remedies vs. Professional Procedures: What Actually Works?

When “self-care” like warm compresses and hydration isn’t enough, in-office technology can provide the breakthrough you need. We use state-of-the-art tools to clear blockages and restore your eye’s natural ecosystem.

The Gut-Eye Axis: Nutrition for Lasting Relief

Can your diet really impact how your eyes feel? Latest research into the Gut-Eye Axis says yes. Chronic inflammation in the body—often starting in the gut—can manifest as dry, red eyes.

• The Power of Omega-3s: We recommend high-quality, re-esterified triglyceride Omega-3 supplements to improve the oil quality in your tears.

• Anti-Inflammatory Living: A diet rich in leafy greens and antioxidants helps protect the ocular surface.

• Hydration is Key: Aim for 8–10 glasses of water daily. If your body is dehydrated, your eyes will be too.

Resources & Citations

For more detailed information on dry eye syndrome and its treatments, please consult these trusted sources:

• American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO): Learn more about the causes, symptoms, and diagnosis of Dry Eye Syndrome.

• National Eye Institute (NEI): Explore detailed research and information on different types of dry eye medications and procedures.

You don’t have to suffer from the symptoms of dry eye. Talk to your optometrist about dry eye treatment options designed to address the underlying cause of your condition.

Your Roadmap to Clear Vision

Dry eye is a journey, not a one-time fix. From simple lifestyle adjustments to advanced therapies like Neurolens for digital strain, Dr. Sarah Zaver and her team are here to ensure you see clearly and comfortably.

Don’t suffer in silence. If you are in Richmond, Sugar Land, or the surrounding area, let us help you find a customized treatment plan that works.

Book Your Appointment Today | Call: (832) 930-7797