A Systematic Approach to Dry Eye using LipiFlow Treatment
The complex strategy to understanding dry eye syndrome has led to a widespread change in approaching this condition as an ocular surface disease, stratified as evaporative dry eye, aqueous deficient dry eye, and ocular allergy. The diagnostic armamentarium has vastly expanded to include tear osmolarity and inflammatory markers as redefined by the new International Dry Eye WorkShop (DEWS) in 2007. The Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) panel on meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) further expanded the interpretation of evaporative dry eye and its therapeutic options, including the newest US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved device known as LipiFlow Thermal Pulsation System. This paper will give an overview on understanding dry eye disease, its etiology, diagnostic methods, and current therapeutic options.