Duncan and Area Chemainus and Area Cobble Hill and Area Lake Cowichan and Area

Dry Eye Therapy in Cowichan Valley

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Do You Have Dry Eyes?

Trustworthy Care for Lasting Relief

Do You have Dry Eyes

Unfortunately, this irritating condition is incredibly common, and can be caused by a variety of factors.

Regardless of why your eyes are dry, the results are the same: uncomfortable, irritated eyes. Fortunately, relief is available.

Common Dry Eye Symptoms

  • Excessive watering
  • Itchiness and discomfort
  • Redness
  • Foreign object
  • Burning sensations

These are only some of the possible symptoms of dry eyes, and symptoms may vary depending on the root cause. If you are experiencing similar symptoms, ask your optometrist if this could be an indication of dry eyes.

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What Causes Dry Eyes?

Dry eyes are caused by tear film dysfunction. Simply put, your tears aren’t able to keep your eyes lubricated and comfortable. Dry eyes have two root causes: insufficient tear volume or poor-quality tears.

Our tears are made of three main ingredients:

  • The lipid layer is composed of an oily substance secreted from the meibum glands. This helps prevent your tears from evaporating too quickly.
  • The aqueous layer is the water-like component of your tears; it includes the most different elements. This is the main ingredient in your tears and helps support the other two layers.
  • The mucous layer – which is made of mucins and coats the cornea, helping your tears distribute themselves evenly across the surface of your eye.

If you can’t produce enough tears, or your tear film composition is off, it can leave your eyes feeling dry and irritated. Severe cases can lead to tissue damage.

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Aqueous tear-deficient dry eye can come from upsets in other parts of your body, but it results in a lack of moisture in your tears. It can occur when your lacrimal glands fail to produce enough tears. This type may be caused by:

Evaporative dry eye (EDE) counts as your dry eye type if your tears evaporate too quickly. It’s usually caused by a blockage in the oil glands, upsetting your eye’s lipid layer.

Similar to the effects of problems with your lacrimal glands, your eyes may feel inflamed and irritated with evaporative dry eyes. Your optometrist can accurately diagnose it and recommend a suitable treatment plan. If you have EDE, there’s a lot we can do in-office to help you retain moisture from your natural tear level.

Medical diagnostic tests help us determine the precise type of dry eye and the severity of it. We test your tear film composition, as well as the quality of it. Some standard tests that we employ include:

  • Lipid (Oil) Layer Tests: LipiView, lipid layer thickness (LLT), meibomian gland function scores, and a blink test.
  • Aqueous (Tear) Layer Tests: Tear osmolarity, non-invasive tear break up time (NITBUT)
  • Mucin (Cells) Layer Tests: Fluorescein eye stain test, eyelid margins, and conjunctiva (lissamine green)
  • Presence of demodex and blepharitis along the eyelid margin
  • Patient ocular surface disease index (OSDI) and lifestyle or environmental factors questionnaire

Treatments & Relief for Dry Eyes

Because there could be many different causes for your dry eye syndrome, you might benefit from a few essential treatments. It’s best to think of these options as homework to make professional clinical therapies more effective. Feel free to ask your optometrist what home practices might provide the right kind of relief for you!

At-Home Treatments

  • Prescription Eye Drops
  • Lubricating eye drops
  • Hot compresses
  • Omega-3 supplements
  • Eyelid cleaners
  • Blinking exercises

Professional Dry Eye Therapy

We’ve found a mix of leading dry eye therapy methods can help patients suffering from different tear film issues with varying levels of severity. In conjunction with at-home treatments, these methods can provide relief in the face of mounting discomfort.

Okra in Bowl

Zocular eyelid system treatment (ZEST) treatment is an okra infused product with restorative and healing properties, including control of Demodex. It gently lifts and clears the oil, debris, and residue on your eyelid margins.

Intense pulsed light (IPL) is a standard treatment for skin rosacea that is also effective for treating dry eye. High-intensity light energy warms the meibomian glands’ oil, allowing them to be expressed and improve their function. IPL shrinks inflamed blood vessels, reduces inflammatory chemical factors on the eye and tear film, and is effective against Demodex. IPL can also provide collagen tightening and some aesthetic improvement to the skin around the eyes.

Low-level light therapy (LLLT) utilizes long-wavelength red LED light to stimulate the meibomian glands on both the upper and lower eyelids.

A Lipiflow treatment device comes with a design to effectively remove blockages from the meibomian glands, allowing them to properly function and produce the oils that make up the tear film’s top protective lipid layer.

This method is a non-invasive cosmetic skin treatment for reducing fine lines and wrinkles. Heating the deeper subdermal layers of the skin stimulates collagen and elastin production and can also help clear obstructed meibomian glands. If you are interested in having tighter, younger-looking skin in addition to treating your dry eye, then RF may be the treatment of choice for you.

Cowichan’s Dry Eye Therapy Packages

For the best cross between economic value and effective relief, we may advise you of one or more of our service packages. Please ask for a recommendation after diagnosis at an eye exam for seniors and adults!

Suited especially to those at risk for EDE, lid hygiene (Eyegiene) becomes very important in controlling dry eye and de. Like a dental cleaning for your sensitive eye glands, eyegiene manages potential blockages in your meibum for a preserved oil layer and healthy evaporation rates. The Eyegiene package includes:

  • One ZEST treatment
  • One LLLT treatment

Once the cause of the dry eye disease is determined, your doctor will prescribe a course of treatment. This package can treat various levels of severity. Dry Eye Bootcamp consists of the following:

  • Six months of follow up visits
  • ZEST treatments
  • LLLT treatments
  • IPL treatments
  • Manual expression of the glands

Lipiflow is one of the most sophisticated technologies in the dry eye therapy options available to our patients. Especially suited to patients with meibomian gland dysfunction, which affects meibum production, LipiFlow can jumpstart your gland activity and, by extension, your oil layer production.

The Lipiflow package includes:

  • One Lipiflow procedure
  • ZEST treatment
  • Two months follow up with ZEST, IPL, and LLLT

If your eyes need a little soothing and your meibomian glands aren’t performing as well as they could be, My Eye Spa is a great fit.

  • Four Radio Frequency procedures
  • Four IPL procedures
  • ZEST treatments

How Your Optometrist Can Help with Your Dry Eyes

Many of our in-office treatments tackle EDE, but we’re equipped to help you with aqueous tear-deficient dry eye too. Along with allergies or a dry work environment, problems with your tear production can be met with prescription eye drops. However, if the problem is rooted in tear production, it may require a combination of treatment methods.

Whatever the cause of your dry eye, the experienced team at Cowichan Eyecare is here to help. Please book an appointment with one of our optometrists at one of our 4 locations for more information.

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Our Services

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Visit Our Locations

Duncan and Area

Duncan location at Beverly Corners. We are right next to Thrifty Foods.

Our Address

Unit 2 – 2755 Beverly Street
Duncan, BC V9L 6X2

Contact Us

Phone: 250.748.3937
Fax: 250.597.3456

Our Hours

Mondays
8:30 AM – 5 PM
Tuesdays
8:30 AM – 5 PM
Wednesdays
8:30 AM – 8 PM
Thursdays
8:30 AM – 5 PM
Fridays
8:30 AM – 5 PM
Saturday
8:30 AM – 2 PM
Sunday
Closed
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Duncan location at Beverly Corners. We are right next to Thrifty Foods.

Contact Us

Phone: 250.748.3937
Fax: 250.597.3456

Our Address

Unit 2 – 2755 Beverly Street
Duncan, BC V9L 6X2

Our Hours

Mondays
8:30 AM – 5 PM
Tuesdays
8:30 AM – 5 PM
Wednesdays
8:30 AM – 8 PM
Thursdays
8:30 AM – 5 PM
Fridays
8:30 AM – 5 PM
Saturday
8:30 AM – 2 PM
Sunday
Closed
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Chemainus and Area

We look forward to serving you at our Chemainus location. Find us just off of Maple Lane and Croft Street.

Our Address

Unit 106 – 9844 Croft Street
Chemainus, BC V0R 1K0

Contact Us

Phone: 250.246.3405
Fax: 250.246.3408

Our Hours

Monday
8:45 AM – 6 PM
Tuesday
8:45 AM – 5 PM
Wednesday
8:45 AM – 5 PM
Thursday
8:45 AM – 5 PM
Friday
8:45 AM – 5 PM
Weekend
Closed
Request An Appointment

We look forward to serving you at our Chemainus location. Find us just off of Maple Lane and Croft Street.

Contact Us

Phone: 250.246.3405
Fax: 250.246.3408

Our Address

Unit 106 – 9844 Croft Street
Chemainus, BC V0R 1K0

Our Hours

Monday
8:45 AM – 6 PM
Tuesday
8:45 AM – 5 PM
Wednesday
8:45 AM – 5 PM
Thursday
8:45 AM – 5 PM
Friday
8:45 AM – 5 PM
Weekend
Closed
Request An Appointment

Cobble Hill and Area

We can’t wait to meet you at our Cobble Hill location. We are located off of Cowichan Bay Road, located close to Drumroasters Coffee.

Our Address

Unit 56 – 1400 Cowichan Bay Rd
Cobble Hill, BC V0R 1L3

Contact Us

Phone: 250.743.8899
Fax: 250.743.8898

Our Hours

Monday
8:30 AM – 5 PM
Tuesday
7:30 AM – 8 PM
Wednesday
7:30 AM – 8 PM
Thursday
7:45 AM – 8 PM
Friday
7:30 AM – 5 PM
Saturday
8:30 AM – 2 PM
Sunday
closed
Request An Appointment

We can’t wait to meet you at our Cobble Hill location. We are located off of Cowichan Bay Road, located close to Drumroasters Coffee.

Contact Us

Phone: 250.743.8899
Fax: 250.743.8898

Our Address

Unit 56 – 1400 Cowichan Bay Rd
Cobble Hill, BC V0R 1L3

Our Hours

Monday
8:30 AM – 5 PM
Tuesday
7:30 AM – 8 PM
Wednesday
7:30 AM – 8 PM
Thursday
7:45 AM – 8 PM
Friday
7:30 AM – 5 PM
Saturday
8:30 AM – 2 PM
Sunday
closed
Request An Appointment

Lake Cowichan and Area

We are conveniently located in the plaza off of Stanley Road and Cowichan Lake Road. Find us between the IDA Island Pharmacy #2 and Resonance Hearing Clinic.

Our Address

44 Stanley Road
Lake Cowichan, BC V0R 2G0

Contact Us

Phone: 250.749.4440
Fax: 250.749.4448

Our Hours

Monday
Closed
Tuesday
9 AM – 5 PM
Wednesday
9 AM – 5 PM
Thursday
9 AM – 5 PM
Friday
9 AM – 5 PM
Weekends
Closed
Request An Appointment

We are conveniently located in the plaza off of Stanley Road and Cowichan Lake Road. Find us between the IDA Island Pharmacy #2 and Resonance Hearing Clinic.

Contact Us

Phone: 250.749.4440
Fax: 250.749.4448

Our Address

44 Stanley Road
Lake Cowichan, BC V0R 2G0

Our Hours

Monday
Closed
Tuesday
9 AM – 5 PM
Wednesday
9 AM – 5 PM
Thursday
9 AM – 5 PM
Friday
9 AM – 5 PM
Weekends
Closed
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