Dry eyes can be painful, but new research suggests that people who suffer from dry eyes may be more likely to suffer from other chronic pain conditions.
New findings out of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine suggests that dry eyes could indicate an underlying neurological issue that could also cause pain in other parts of the body. For their study, researchers examined 154 patients with dry eye and measured their levels of reported pain and their dry eye symptoms using three different tools. Once the researchers had their measurements, they group patients into two groups – Dry eyes with high levels of chronic pain and dry eyes with low levels of chronic pain. When looking at these two groups it became apparent that individuals with high levels of chronic pain also expressed more neuropathic type dry eye symptoms. Those patients also exhibited some other concerning trends.
“Dry eye patients in our study reported higher levels of ocular and non-ocular pain associated with multiple chronic pain syndromes, and had lower scores on depression and quality-of-life indices consistent with a central sensitivity disorder,” said study co-author Dr. Roy C. Levitt.
Dry Eyes and Chronic Pain
Researchers believe the findings from the dry eye study can help doctors uncover root causes of ocular issues, and they can help doctors better manage all expressed symptoms.
“Traditionally, eye specialists have treated dry eye with artificial tears or topical medications for the surface of the cornea. However, even if these treatments improve some dry eye symptoms, many patients continue to report underlying ocular and non-ocular pain,” said lead author Dr. Anat Galor, MSPH, associate professor of clinical ophthalmology.
Building on that point, Dr. Galor concluded that doctors should consider dry eyes as a possible side effect of a chronic pain condition when diagnosing a patient.
“Our highest priority is educating physicians that dry eye represents an overlapping chronic pain condition,” said Dr. Galor. “Consequently, a multidisciplinary approach should be considered in the diagnosis and pain management of dry eye patients.”
Related source: HCPLive.com