Hypotonic Tear Drops for Targeted Dry Eye Relief

26 October 2014  |  Eyecare Partners

Tears are made up of water and other substances such as salts, mucus and oil.

In Dry Eye Syndrome, tears often become more 'salty' due to a reduction in the watery molecules.

These 'saltier' tears are referred to as being 'hyper-osmolar'.

Hyper-osmolar tears contribute to causing damage and inflammation of the ocular surface and thus a key component of treating the Dry Eye Syndrome is to try and reverse or reduce tear hyper-osmolarity.

One way of doing this is by using hypotonic artificial tear drops. There are many different lubricating eye drops on the market. Some are hypotonic, while others are isotonic. Hypotonic tear drops help restore the balance between water and solutes in the tear film. making hyper-osmolar tears less so.

'Poor Quality' Hyper-Osmolar Tear Layer

 

Normal Iso-Osmolar Tear Layer

(Images courtesy of Vismed)

Other things can also help with restoring tears to iso-osmolarity. For a specific tailor made plan, the causes of Dry Eye need to be established first. Our Dry Eye Assessment can help to identify your specific factors.

When buying lubricating eye drops, hypotonic formulations include those by Vismed who have an entire range of hypotonic tear drops to treat different severities of Dry Eye.

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