RED AND ITCHY EYES

After a long winter and a delayed spring, Allergists are expecting a "rough" allergy season this spring and summer. We are already seeing lots of symptomatic patients complaining of itching, watering, red uncomfortable eyes often more severe than years past.

It is imperative that you have your eye doctor examine you to differentiate between allergies and other types of eye infections (such as viral conjunctivitis) and eye conditions as often there can be similiar symptoms among various maladies.

Oral allergy medications such as Zyrtec and Clarityn are often not enough to control and alleviate ocular allergy symptoms and in many cases may result in or add to dryness of the eyes.

An eye drop is usually needed when eyes are affected by allergies and there are some eye drops that can also prevent symptoms from occuring if started early enough. These drops have antihistamine properties (reduce or eliminate itching and redness) and are mast cell stabilizers which prevent the eyes from reacting to allergens in the environment. Drops like Pataday, Lastacaft, Bepreve, Elestat, Optivar among others fall into this category and also have different dosing and side effects so it is best to consult with your doctor before using. In more severe cases steroid eydrops are often very helpful in bringing relief and eliminating symptoms. Using these drops prior to the onset of symptoms can help prevent and ultimately decrease the overall severity of the allergic symptoms.

I often tell my patients to refrigerate their unpreseved artificial tears and they love the cooling soothing effect this brings about in addition to decreasing redness and flushing out or diluting the eye allergens.

Dry eyes also can result in greater and more exagerated symptoms and it is therefor imperative to have this managed by your eye doctor as well.

Should you have any questions please feel free to email me, Doctor Kevin Rosin at eyedockev@yahoo.com. Together with Doctors Barry Farkas, Jordan Kassalow, Susan Resnick and Regina Zyskowski we focus on Dry Eye , contact lenses and Ocular Allergies.

Visit us at our website www.eyewise.com or call me at 212-355-5145

Dr. Kevin Rosin - New York City

Dry Eye - Tear Lab

The average person blinks about 10,000 times a day. Tears are essential allowing the eyelid to move smoothly over the front of the eye. The tears are made of a number of layers and a deficiency in any of these layers will ultimately lead to drying and ocular surface inflammation, often with accompanying symptoms.

A common cause or result of dry eye is hyperosmolarity, indicating an excess of salt in the tears.

Only recently has a test become commercially available to measure tear osmolarity previously only performed in academic and research settings.

We are fortunate in our practice in New York City to be one of the few to have the TearLab system which is the first objective and quantitative test for diagnosing and managing Dry Eye patients. It is fast and accurate and aids in the diagnosis in patients suspected of having dry eye disease.


This testing has been extremely helpful in managing and treating our numerous patients who have suffered with ocular surface disease (Dry Eye Syndrome).



www.eyewise.com
Kevin Rosin in association with Dr's Farkas kassalow & Resnick
Tel: 212-355-5145
30 East 60th St, Suite 201 New York, NY

http://tearlab.com/

The importance of regular eye exams

A recent survey by the American Optometric Association revealed that a large percentage of Americans are not paying enough attention to their eye health and eye sight .

A large portion of the people surveyed (81%) are eyeglass wearers and/or contact lens wearers. Twenty six percent of the respondents had not visited an eye doctor in over two years.

Most Americans are not aware that eye exams can reveal more than just eye and vision problems. More than sixty percent are unaware that Optometrists and Ophthalmologists can detect signs of diabetes, over seventy percent are unaware that hypertension, cardiovascular disease, multiple sclerosis, cancer and brain tumors may be detected through a comprehensive eye exam.

http://www.eyewise.com/

www.aoanews.org