Steroid eye drops have many uses for treating eye problems and conditions. A growing use of steroid eye drops is to treat dry eye syndrome and symptoms of severe dry eyes. There have been new steroid eye drops approved for the specific purpose of treating dry eye flare-ups and many others have been proven successful when used off-label for this purpose. The FDA-approved eye drop is called Eysuvis, but many different branded and generic steroid eye drops are now used for dry eye treatment.
Inflammation and Dry Eyes
Dry eye syndrome is inherently an inflammatory condition. The damage to the cornea creates a system of inflammatory changes inciting other inflammation.
If the tear glands, oil glands, or mucus cells become inflamed, the production of the tears will be impacted and the eyes may dry out quicker than normal.
As the eyes become dry, the cornea is damaged and resulting in inflammation on the surface of the eye. This surface inflammation further spreads the signal to increase the inflammation, including the original inflammation of the glands.
If the dry eye symptoms are triggered by an external factor, such as a medication or allergy, a similar pathway can result in the worsened dry eye by compounding the external stimulus with an internal inflammatory component.
Ways to Reduce Inflammation
Reducing inflammation within the eyes or the rest of the body can be done by altering the number of steroids produced naturally or by introducing steroids or other anti-inflammatory medications.
Increasing the body’s natural production of steroids requires changing diet and lifestyle and cannot be done quickly to address an acute problem.
For this reason, when an inflammatory condition arises, a steroid or other anti-inflammatory medication is used to reduce the inflammation.
When a Steroid is Used for Dry Eye Syndrome
Steroids are still not the primary treatment for dry eye syndrome or symptoms of dry eyes. Instead, artificial tears or lubricating eye drops are used to increase the quality and quantity of the tears.
However, when there are particular issues or flare-ups of increased symptoms, a steroid eye drop may be used to lessen the symptoms that occur.
Typically, these symptoms may be present with even mild dry eye syndrome but will be much more exaggerated when a dry eye flare-up is present.
Using Steroid Eye Drops for Flare Up
When an eye doctor diagnoses dry eye syndrome, it is possible to then diagnose and treat a flare-up or exacerbation of the syndrome.
To treat these flare-ups, a “soft steroid” is generally used. Among these choices are the generic medications loteprednol and fluorometholone.
These two steroid eye drops do not have the same risk for an increase in eye pressure as other steroids and are classified as “soft” because of this.
Eysuvis, the FDA-approved steroid for dry eye treatment, contain loteprednol 0.38%.
Our eye doctors at Wilmington Family Eye Care in Wilmington, DE excel in the prescription of glasses, contact lenses and the diagnosis of a variety of eye diseases. Call our optometrists at 302-299-1286 or schedule an eye exam appointment online if you would like to learn more about steroid eye drops. Our eye doctors, Drs. Daniel Baruffi, Amy Quan, Patricia Jones, and Joseph Goldberg provide the highest quality optometry services and eye exams in Wilmington, Delaware and its surrounding areas.