July is population awareness month about dry eye, a disease that is increasing a lot in all age groups of the female and male population, although women are more impacted, mainly by the hormonal changes they experience throughout their lives, such as menopause, use of contraceptive pills and hormone replacement therapy. The Turquesa July worldwide campaign is the result, in Brazil, of a partnership between the Dry Eye Carriers Association (APOS) and the Tear Film Ocular Surface Society (TFOS), a global leader in eye health education. In Brazil, the campaign takes place for the fourth consecutive year in winter, in July, the driest month of the year, and won the color turquoise, which represents the color of clean water, of tears, as explained this Tuesday (18) to Agência Brasil by the president of APOS, ophthalmologist José Alvaro Pereira Gomes, who is also a professor of ophthalmology at the Paulista School of Medicine at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp). The campaign aims to show the importance of the disease also for public health, highlighted the Unifesp professor. Tear Dry eye is a disease related to the decrease or change in the production of tear quality. “And the tear is essential for maintaining the transparency of the cornea, which is this lens that we have in front of the eye. The tear nourishes the surface cell of the cornea, protects from infections and regularizes. So, it also has an optical function”, informed the doctor. The person who does not have tears, or has an alteration in the quality of the tears, begins to have vision problems and presents several symptoms that interfere with the quality of his personal life. Among these symptoms, the president of APOS highlighted a feeling of sand and dryness, difficulty going out in the light, eye irritation. “It gets worse during the day and, by the end of the period, it is usually much worse. It is something that interferes with the quality of people’s lives”. There is a worsening of the disease at this time of year in Brazil, when the climate is drier, the relative humidity of the air drops, the air becomes more polluted. “With that, the tear evaporates faster and people who have dry eye start to feel worse, they start to experience more symptoms”. Afterwards, the disease can become chronic. The first treatment is with topical lubricants, or eye drops. The second line of treatment, when it has an inflammatory component, involves anti-inflammatory eye drops or eye drops that contain a corticosteroid. “This has to be based on a good ophthalmological examination for us to indicate a treatment”. More severe cases go for occlusion of the lacrimal part and even include surgery. According to Gomes, the ideal is, at the first symptoms, the patient seeks an ophthalmologist who can identify the degree of the disease, differentiate the type of dry eye and treat it appropriately. He condemned self-medication because the patient often uses the wrong eye drops that can make the condition worse instead of improving. Tears are made up of several layers: the aqueous layer, produced by the lacrimal glands; mucin layer, produced by the cells of the conjunctiva; and the outermost lipid layer, which controls tear evaporation. This combination keeps the surface of the eye lubricated, protected and clear. Risk factors According to José Alvaro Pereira Gomes, dry eye is very common all over the world. Recent works published in the international literature show that 14% of the Brazilian population suffer from dry eye. In the city of São Paulo, this number reaches 24%. Other surveys carried out by the universities of Campinas (Unicamp) and by Unifesp revealed that dry eye affects between 24% and 25% of the young population of the two institutions. Some risk factors drew the researchers’ attention. The first is the number of hours of sleep. “Below six hours of sleep, the person is more exposed and has more dry eyes”. Another factor is the use of oral contraceptives. A third contributing factor to this disease is the number of hours people spend on computer and cell phone screens. “This is one of the most important factors. That’s why dry eye is increasing in frequency in young people because the world today is practically digital. These are factors that have really increased the incidence of dry eye in this population group that is not traditionally affected by the disease”. Digital screen in continuous use causes dry eye, says doctor – Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil Other elements also contribute to dry eye, such as smoke, air conditioning, some medications, including anti-allergy and antidepressants, in addition to isotretinoin for skin treatment. “It’s multifactorial.” Gomes also recalled the most serious cases of dry eye, which include diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and Sjogren’s syndrome. These more serious types of dry eye can even lead to visual loss. Silent disease José Alvaro Gomes said that dry eye is a silent disease. “It doesn’t make a lot of noise, but it can start to bother you in such a way that the person becomes symptomatic and often has to stop working. Mainly, who deals all the time in front of the computer. Because when you look at a computer screen or any other screen device, you greatly reduce the number of blinks that renew the tear. The person lets the tear evaporate faster. Then the symptoms get too bad.” The cornea is an extremely innervated structure and perhaps it is the structure in the human body that has the most innervation density. “Then, when symptoms start to appear, they get worse, including intolerance and pain, which makes people unable to practice their profession. There are even patients who cannot leave a dark room, they wear dark glasses all the time. When they enter this phase, the treatment is a little more difficult”. A great recommendation, according to the president of APOS, is for the person to blink several times when working on a computer. Another tip is the height of the screen. Ideally, it should be below the eye line, “because then you leave it a little more closed and reduce the evaporation of the tear”. If the environment has very strong air conditioning, the suggestion is to install an air humidifier; take breaks every 20 minutes or half an hour, when you must remember to drip a lubricant. Then get back to the routine. “Don’t stay straight in front of the computer. These are very important recommendations”.
Agência Brasil
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