Dry eye can be a mild irritant or a major inflammatory problem. Recently a new ocular drop has entered the marketplace to help treat dry eye – Azasite. Azasite helps with evaporative dry eye.
Dry eye can be thought of as having two main causes – lack of tear production (low tear volume) or normal tear volume that evaporates too quickly.
Oil glands in the eyelids (meibomian glands) produce oil that forms an “oil slick” on top of the tear layer of the eye to prevent rapid evaporation. These oil glands can become inflamed, causing low oil production and a quickly evaporating tear film.
Azasite is Azithromycin (an antibiotic) in drop form. This antibiotic has an anti-inflammatory side effect – it is the side effect of the drug that helps deal with dry eyes.
As the inflammation of the oil glands in the lids is reduced, the oil production is increased, and the tear layer evaporates more slowly, greatly reducing the dry eye symptoms.
The next time you go to see your optometrist for your eye exam or contact lens fitting, ask the doctor if Azasite would be a good option for you, and hopefully there will not be a dry eye in your house.
Steven Lutz, OD
Serving Ann Arbor, Saline, Ypsilanti, Pinckney, Milan, Dexter, Chelsea, Brighton, Howell, Whitmore Lake and surrounding areas since 1988.
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