Should you treat Dry Eye before Cataract surgery?

Before undergoing cataract or refractive surgery, it’s important for the surface of your eye, or the ocular surface, to be as healthy as possible. This may help reduce symptoms caused by other eye conditions after your surgery. One condition which often affects the ocular surface is dry eye. This is especially common in older adults and occurs when the tear film cannot properly moisten the ocular surface. Even if you don’t feel any symptoms, it’s possible for dry eye to affect the health of your eyes. Your doctor will evaluate your ocular surface and may suggest treatment before you undergo surgery. Treatments can include eye drops , nutritional supplements, or other recommendations. You may be prescribed one or several of these treatments to reduce the possibility of dry eye after surgery. Because dry eye is a chronic disease, you will need to manage it with long-term treatments. A healthy ocular surface is important for the best cataracts or refractive surgical outcome. Talk to your doctor today about improving the health of your ocular surface.