Dramatic increase in dry eye patients in early spring in Xiamen

    Xiamen has a subtropical climate, but there is no winter season. The weather is usually a transition from autumn to summer, with sunny and rainy days, cold and hot days, and such an environment tends to affect human tear secretion. Therefore, every year in early spring, Xiamen is a high incidence of dry eye disease. Recently, there are many people coming to Xiamen Eye Center for dry eye examination, and the clinic sees hundreds of people every day. Ocular Surface and Corneal Diseases of Xiamen Eye Center affiliated with Xiamen University Dong Nuo Medical science often compares the cornea to a plant, the eye surface to soil, and tears to rain, and plants cannot grow without fertile soil and abundant rain. Under normal conditions, with each blink, the eyelids act like the wipers of a car, removing debris from the surface of the eye and distributing the tears secreted by the lacrimal and lid glands evenly over the surface of the eye. The common symptoms of dry eye include dry eyes, easy fatigue, itching, foreign body sensation and painful burning, increased secretions, fear of wind, photophobia, temporary blurred vision; tears in the wind, and in more severe cases, red, swollen, congested eyes that can even lead to blindness. The presence of dry eye disease brings more serious impact on people’s life, study and work.    In the past, it was believed that the secretion of tears would normally decrease with age, so the majority of patients with dry eye disease were elderly. However, in recent years, due to long-term use of computers, driving, wearing contact lenses, air pollution and other reasons, the number of young patients is increasing, especially white-collar workers and drivers are the main targets of dry eye disease.    The current treatment of dry eye is mainly divided into mild, medium and severe cases to give the corresponding treatment: for mild dry eye can be cured by implementing the following treatment measures: reduce the time spent on the eyes, topical application of artificial tears and stop using drugs that cause dry eye aggravation. Many patients like to “treat” themselves first with antibiotics and antiviral eye w when they start to have eye discomfort, but this method is not the right medicine for dry eye, and the antibiotics and antiseptics may aggravate the symptoms and even lead to moderate to severe dry eye.    Moderate-to-severe dry eye cannot be cured and requires surgery for tear punctal embolization, along with long-term medications and even the application of topical immunosuppressants, and regular follow-up to change or adjust the treatment plan in a timely manner and to monitor structural damage to the eye to prevent more serious complications.