by Joel Harrison
17. December 2011 09:36
Many contact lenses users find that using tear supplements gives only temporary relief, so they should be interested that a group of researchers have started to work on a simple and long-term solution to the problem.
Dr Patrick J. Caroline and Dr Mark P. Andree from Pacific University, encouraged by the suggestions of many eye care practitioners that increased water intake decreases the symptoms of dry eye, performed a pilot study, which included 29 university students and teachers. The subjects filled in the Texas Eye Research and Technology Center Dry Eye Questionnaire, which allowed the researchers to identify 17 dry eye sufferers among the participants. Afterwards, the scientists asked the subjects to drink a specific amount of water every day for 14 days and write down how much they actually drank.
The results of the study suggest that increased water intake relieves the symptoms associated with dry eye syndrome in some patients (13 of the 17 individuals with diagnosed dry eye were identified as ‘normal’ at the end of the study). However, the researchers stress that a study including more subjects needs to be carried out before drawing definite conclusions.
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