Innovation continues to be a hallmark of dry eye disease (DED) care. Consider: The FDA recently approved two drops for the signs and symptoms of DED. And the Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) recently announced its new global workshop report, titled “A Lifestyle Epidemic: Ocular Surface Disease.” The report, published in this quarter’s The Ocular Surface journal (visit sciencedirect.com/journal/the-ocular-surface/ ), focuses “on how eye problems are increasingly linked to lifestyle choices, what we do to ourselves, from technology use, to our beauty routines, to what we eat, to where we live,” notes Amy Gallant Sullivan, TFOS executive director, on the TFOS website.

The reports from the workshop address digital eye strain, nutrition, contact lenses, cosmetics, environmental conditions, and more.

Practicing Medical Optometry: dry eye disease

Our deepening understanding of DED, as well as the wealth of tools available to diagnose, treat, and manage DED is, in many ways, captured this month in Optometric Management’s (OM) “Practicing Medical Optometry” (PMO) section, which is devoted to DED. For example:

• In “Test for dry eye disease," Dr. Jade Coats discusses the variety of tests available to help identify DED, so, “ODs can both meet their patients’ eye care expectations and prescribe the needed treatment(s).”
• Dr. Selina R. McGee presents how she stages DED patients and the resulting treatments she prescribes in “Treat dry eye disease by severity," She notes that treatment should also be based on the patient’s overall health, specific symptoms, and underlying causes.”
• In “Complement home and office dry eye care," Drs. Melissa Barnett and Lisa Hornick discuss when to use in-office treatments for conditions, including aqueous deficient DED, blepharitis, meibomian gland dysfunction, and ocular rosacea.

Beyond the PMO, Dr. Cecelia Koetting, OM’s “Dry Eye” columnist, explains the benefits of grading both the structure and function of the meibomian glands. Additionally, in “Coding,”  Brandy H. Sperry discusses the importance of following a staged or stepwise approach to managing DED.

As a final note, we welcome your input. Please feel free to share your DED-related successes and challenges with us by emailing james.thomas@broadcastmed.com. OM