Dry-Eye Relief – Questions and Answers

“I had seen hundreds of patients frustrated by dry eyes and I wanted to help them. That’s why I have dedicated my life to developing a dry-eye treatment program.”

Jeffrey P. Gilbard, MD
Founder
Advanced Vision Research


Why do my eyes need tears?
It’s because the delicate living cells on the surface of your eyes have no blood supply — they have a tear supply instead. So rather than getting important things like oxygen and electrolytes (special salts) from your blood, your eyes get them from the watery layer of your tears. The watery layer is so important that it is covered by a layer of oil, produced by the oil glands in your eyelids, that protects it from evaporation.

The tear film is made up of three layers:

1. Watery Layer: A watery layer that is produced by the lacrimal gland. When your body doesn’t produce enough tears you get dry eye.

2. Oil Layer: An oil layer, produced by the oil glands in your eyelids. This oil layer coats the tear film to reduce evaporation. Without a healthy oil layer, tears evaporate off the eye surface again causing dry eye.

3. Mucus Layer: A mucus layer on the eye surface that provides natural lubrication. If you aren’t producing enough tears, or if your oil layer gets too thin, the mucus layer dries up and your eyes feel dry and irritated.

What happens in dry eye?
In dry eye the tear film on the eye surface loses water because of either decreased tear production or increased evaporation. And as evaporation continues throughout the day, your eyes feel drier and drier.

What causes dry eye?
The most common cause of dry eye is aging. As we get older, we produce fewer watery tears, and evaporation increases because your oil glands produce less oil. Other common causes include diabetes, Sjögren’s syndrome, contact lens wear, LASIK surgery, reading, computer use, and certain medicaltions.

What are some solutions to dry eye?
All TheraTears eye drops provide real dry-eye relief because each drop replaces the water lost by dry eyes, while providing your eye surface with the electrolytes it needs. In fact, the company that makes TheraTears – Advanced Vision Research – holds the patents on the electrolytes in the human tear film. That means that TheraTears gives you dry-eye relief that really works. Following is a list of TheraTears products and how they can help you.

TheraTears Lubricant Eye Drops, in preservative-free single use containers, is designed to saturate and quench dry sensitive eyes.
TheraTears Lubricant Eye Drops in a bottleis for eyes with mild or moderate dryness that need only occasional or maintenance treatment. Its patented preservative disappears on eye contact for maximum comfort.
TheraTears Liquid Gel, also preservative free, is a thicker version of TheraTears, for nighttime or those who need a longer-lasting version of TheraTears during the day.
TheraTears Contact Lens Comfort Drops improves contact lens comfort on insertion, and makes contact lens wear more comfortable during the day. And TheraTears Contact Lens Comfort Drops also work great with TheraTears Nutrition in providing for comfortable contact lens wear throughout the day.
TheraTears Nutrition for Dry Eyes™ (Omega-3 supplement with flaxseed oil, fish oil and vitamin E) taken by mouth provides a unique patent-pending blend of pharmaceutical grade omega-3 oils that your tear glands and eyelid oil glands need to make healthy tears. Most people who take TheraTears Nutrition will start to experience increased dry-eye comfort in about 4 to 8 weeks. *

How can TheraTears Nutrition help me?
Now there is a healthy dietary supplement called TheraTears Nutrition that helps relieve eye irritation whether it’s from dry eye or blepharitis (eyelid inflammation). Dry eye causes the eye irritation that generally gets worse as the day goes on, while blepharitis causes the irritation that is most noticeable when you open your eyes in the morning.

TheraTears Nutrition contains healthy omega-3 oils from the flaxseed plant and from cold-water fish purified to contain no mercury or PCBs. Doctors and nutritionists have long recognized that omega-3s help combat heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. Now it has been shown that omega-3s are critical for the health of the eyelids, tears and eye surface — critical for maintaining moist, comfortable eyes.

The oil glands in your eyelids use essential fatty acids to manufacture the oil layer of the tear film. TheraTears Nutrition provides the omega-3s your oil glands need to make the healthy oil that coats your tear film to reduce evaporation. This healthy oil protects against dry eye and makes your eyes feel better.

At the same time, the omega-3s in TheraTears Nutrition also relieve dry eye by protecting your lacrimal gland and helping it make more tear fluid. As a result TheraTears Nutrition makes your eyes feel better throughout the day. Most patients feel better after using TheraTears Nutrition for about four to eight weeks. *

TheraTears was developed by Jeffrey P. Gilbard, MD in the clinics and laboratories of the Schepens Eye Research Institute.

The Schepens Eye Research Institute is the largest non-profit institution in the world dedicated to the fight against blinding and painful eye conditions.

Arising from this heritage, Advanced Vision Research remains committed to eye research, and the mission of developing major advances in the treatment of eye disease.

* These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

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