editor's perspective

First Annual Dry Eye Issue

BY JASON J. NICHOLS, OD, MPH, PHD, FAAO

Dry eye diseases are among the most frequently occurring ophthalmic conditions that afflict our patients. Furthermore, contact lens wearers are commonly burdened by the irritating end-of-day symptoms of dryness and discomfort, so much so that dry eye is the primary reason why contact lens wearers discontinue lens wear. However, hope is in sight for our patients who have dry eye problems. As contact lens practitioners, we should be on the front lines of managing and treating this condition.

Clinicians and researchers are delving further into the etiologies of dry eye diseases. They are developing a better understanding of the causes and corollaries of this multifactorial condition. Manufacturers are continually developing and introducing novel treatments into the market including contact lens materials, additives in care solutions, over-the-counter products, and pharmaceutical agents.

In light of this, we felt that creating a special issue totally devoted to the topic of dry eye was absolutely warranted. As you will note in the issue, we took the approach of covering dry eye disease from a broad standpoint including both general dry eye and its treatments and contact lens-related dry eye. Although this special issue is comprehensive, it was nearly impossible to cover all aspects of dry eye disease. Thus, we chose topics that we felt were the most critical to you in practice.

We hope you find the issue valuable, and we look forward to hearing your feedback in due course.