Prosthetic Eye Dryness

Prosthetic Eye dryness, Why, What and how.

Artificial Eye users may experience Prosthetic Eye Dryness while using their prosthesis. To learn more on why this dryness occur, I divided this post in 4 segments.

1. What are tears?
2. What makes up the tears?
3. Reasons why a person experiences dry eye
4. Recommended plan for the symptom

What are Tears?

Tears are watery substances secreted by our Lacrimal Gland. Aside from preventing our Eyes from getting dry, it also serves as a cleaning agent to protect our eyes from infectious agents and It plays a part in the osmotic regulation.

What makes up the Tears?
Our tears are made up 3 distinct layers.
Namely:

1. The Lipid Layer
2. The Aqueous Layer
3. Mucin Layer

The Lipid layer

• It provides a hydrophobic barrier that envelops tears and prevents it from spilling into the cheek

Aqueous Layer

• It promotes the spreading of the tear film in your cornea, and it controls the infectious agents that might infect the eye.

Mucin Layer
    - it coats the cornea and provides a hydrophilic layer. It's what makes the tears film evenly distributed all over the cornea.

There are three reasons how a person, regardless if they are a Prosthetic Eye user or not, can experience Dryness.

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First, There could be a decrease in the production of Tears

• There are many reasons why our eyes are unable to produce enough tears. Namely:
  • Aging
  • Certain medical conditions such as Vitamin A deficiency, Sjorgen Syndrome, Thyroid disorder, Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis and many more.
  • Medications such as antihistamines, decongestant, Birth control, Hormone replacement therapy, etc.
  • Lacrimal(or Tear) gland damage because of an inflammation or surgery.

Secondly, It could be caused by an increase in tear evaporation.

• This is more of because of the lifestyle of the person.
• Common cause of an increase in tear evaporation could be, but not limited to:
  • Windy, smoky, too cold or too dry/hot air in the environment
  • Blinking less when you're using your computer, driving, watching TV/Cinema, or simply reading a book.
  • Your eyes are turned outward (Ectropion) or turned inward (Entropion) causing the tear film to always be exposed to air. This is very common to people who uses an Artificial Eye and are on their 50's.
  • Eyelids are not closing well because of an accident, or they have worn the wrong size of Artificial Eye for years.

Third and lastly, There might be an imbalance of the Lipid, Aqueous and Mucin Layer of your tear film

• Any problem with any one of these layers of the tear film may cause dryness on a person's eye.
• An example could be when the Meibomian Gland(the gland that secretes the oil/lipid layer) is inflamed. A Meibomian gland Dysfunction (MGD) can cause a reduction a secretion of oil in the lipid layer and can result to an inflammation of the Eyelid. Such condition should be seen by your Ophthalmologist, or by a General Physician if the former is not readily available.

Recommendation

There are many lubricants that can be used to alleviate Prosthetic Eye dryness. The difference between an Artificial Eye and a Natural Human Eye is that a Human Eye doesn’t usually need a more viscous substance, unless they have severe dry eye.

As for an Artificial Eye, a more viscous substance is recommended to bring back the comfort of wearing the Prosthetic Eye.

 Some Examples that could serve as a lubricant:

Artificial Eye Drops

• They are a very useful lubricant for the eye, and some contains Vitamin E which are helpful for patients who still have scars in their eye socket. A few drops a day of this could prevent a person from experiencing Prosthetic Eye Dryness

Note: I recommend a more viscous Artificial tear especially to patients whose eyelids are partially opened and/or doesn't close close entirely when asleep or when blinking.

Hard contact Lens Solution  

• They are very useful because they are both a lubricating agent as well as a cleaning agent for your Prosthetic Eye.
• Hard contact Lens solutions are more viscous and contains ingredients that are used to clean and disinfects a Hard Contact Lens and removes proteins, which are sometimes present in your Artificial Eye.
• With a Hard Contact Lens solution, you are able to prevent Prosthetic Eye Dryness as well as cleaning the prosthesis for a more comfortable feeling.

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  Ophthalmic Gels

• Your Ophthalmologist might have had prescribed you with an antibiotic or steroid gels.
• They can also be used as a lubricant, which means there is no need to use the first 2 that I mentioned if your Ophthalmologist still instructs you to apply the said Ophthalmic Gels