How does an eye doctor know if you have dry eyes?

One of my favorite aspects about ophthalmology is that I get to see exactly what an issue is causing...and I get to play with a lot of fun devices! ⁠⁠
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Patients commonly ask me, "how do I actually know if they have dry eyes?" 

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Well, it’s all about what I see on an exam and what the diagnostic tests show. Details below:⁠⁠
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1️⃣ Fluorescein dye stain: when you come in to get your dry eyes checked, I put a drop of an orange dye in the eye. When I look at the dye using a blue light, we can see damaged and dry corneal cells. ⁠⁠
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2️⃣ Shirmer’s test: during this test, I put a piece of filter paper, that has a ruler on it, in the corner of the eye. After it sits on the eye for 5 minutes, I measure the tear production. ⁠⁠
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3️⃣ Inflammadry: I always get a little excited about this test, because it actually measures an inflammatory marker in the tears. It takes a small sample of tears and does a little test on them. If it detects the inflammatory maker above a certain level, it’s considered a positive test. ⁠⁠
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4️⃣ Meibography: say that 10x fast! During this special imaging scan we can see the architecture of the lash line oil glands or the meibomian glands. Since dysfunction of these glands is the #1 cause of dry eyes, examining them is super important!