39^th European Ophthalmology Congress

Dry Eye & Keratoconus

Dry eye disease (also known as dry eye syndrome) is a common condition that can affect your quality of life. Dry eyes can make your eyes feel sore and gritty and make your vision blurry. If you have dry eye disease, your eyes my feel sensitive to light, they may sting or burn, or look red. Your eyelids may be sticky when you wake up. Sometimes dry eye disease can cause excess tearing. You might also have blepharitis (inflamed eyelids). You may feel a sensation of something in your eye and you may have difficulty wearing contact lenses. Your tear film is made up of 3 layers: fatty oils, watery tears and mucus. When your tears are working normally these 3 components keep your eyes smoothly lubricated. If you have a problem with 1 of these 3 layers you may develop dry eye disease.

Normally your cornea, the clear outer lens or "windshield" of the eye, has a dome shape, like a ball. Sometimes the structure isn’t strong enough to hold its round shape and it bulges outward, like a cone. This is called keratoconus.
It impossible for your eye to focus without glasses or contact lenses. In fact, you may need a corneal transplant to restore your sight if the condition gets bad enough.

A treatment called cornea collagen crosslinking may stop the condition from getting worse. Or your doctor could implant a ring called an Intacs under the cornea’s surface to flatten the cone shape and improve vision.