Link: Punctal Plugs

Keep dry eye patients flowing into your office with this time-honored technique.

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Optometry’s dry eye armamentarium has increased significantly in recent years to include condition-specific artificial tears, anti-inflammatories, better lid disease treatments, amniotic membranes and autologous serum. These have all come about in an effort to treat the growing dry eye epidemic. 

Read the full article from Review of Optometry

Dr. Dexter's Take

A ton of research and development in the eye care industry is focused on treatment of ocular surface disease. We have artificial tears, gels, ointments, Restasis, eyelid scrubs, warm compresses, omega 3s, oral antibiotics, amniotic membranes, in office lid warming therapy, and the list goes on and on... But I find that with the all the attention on new treatment options, we often tend to forget the tried and true option of utilizing punctal plugs for our dry eye patients. This article does a great job at reminding eye care providers of the benefits of punctal occlusion, selecting the proper patients for this treatment, and reviews the procedural steps for instillation of plugs.