Dry Eye Testing

Dry Eye Testing in Grand Rapids or Hibbing at Bonner Eye Clinic

Dry eye is often under-diagnosed or even undiagnosed when patients simply live with the condition or try using over-the-counter eye drops without success. This is because there are different types of dry eye, requiring different treatments. If you have occasional dry eyes due to staying up late or being in a windy, dusty environment, over-the-counter drops may suffice. However, if your condition is ongoing, you may have one of these types of dry eye:

• Evaporative Dry Eye (most common): the eyelid glands (meibomian glands) become blocked, leading to a shortage of oil on the surface of the tears and quick tear evaporation
• Aqueous Tear-Deficient Dry Eye: lacrimal eye glands do not produce enough tears due to aging or disease

At Bonner Eye Clinic we use many types of state-of-the-art technologies to diagnose dry eye so the proper treatment can be recommended.

• Lissamine Green/Rose Bengal Staining: These stains are the most diagnostic for early to moderate dry eye. When evaluating the interpalpebral conjunctiva, positive staining with lissamine green helps to detect the earliest signs of the disease prior to corneal staining. Lissamine green is the vital dye of choice used in symptomatic patients who have not yet started to show corneal fluorescein staining. Rose bengal staining is analogous to lissamine green, but because it can burn upon installation, it is used less than it’s green-colored counterpart. Unlike Fluorescein and lissamine green, rose bengal staining is not a “vital” dye, as it stains normal, healthy, living cells in addition to dead or dying ones.
• Tear Lake/Meniscus Evaluation: Clinicians interested in obtaining precise measurements of the tear layer thickness or tear lake size can make use of anterior segment OCT. This data can be valuable in certain dry eye evaluations but is not routinely used to diagnose dry eye due to a lack of standardization. It is also typically not reimbursable by insurance. Conventional evaluation at the slit lamp will suffice for most routine cases. However, one area where OCT testing may be useful is in the evaluation at the slit lamp will suffice for most routine cases. However, one area where OCT testing may be useful is in the evaluation of scleral contact lenses for dry eye relief.
• InflammaDry® Technology: a quick, in-office test to detect elevated levels of an inflammatory marker (MMP-9). This four-step process identifies if you have this marker that is typically shown to be elevated in patients with dry eye.
• TearLab Osmolarity System®: measures the osmolarity of your tears, a biomarker of the health of your eye surface. This quick and simple method is used to test your tear fluid to identify the extent of your dry eye condition.

There is no need to suffer with dry eye irritation in Grand Rapids or Hibbing. Let our doctors help you find relief!

We’d Love to Tell You More About Dry Eye

We invite you to schedule an eye exam so we can assess your vision for signs of dry eye so treatment can be administered. During your visit to our practice, you will learn why so many people trust our team to provide dry eye relief.