guest editorial
Moisturizing the Eye in a New Way

Every day, many of the patients you see in your exam chair are experiencing the effects of a global increase in tear film dehydration. It's their eyes against the world, literally. The decrease in our planet's fresh aquifiers and other water sources has diminished the amount of natural moisture in our air, fueling a process of global drying. Water and air pollution, drought, over-population, climatic extremes, explosions, and more exacerbate the process.

Exposure to global drying increases moisture evaporation from the aqueous layer of the eyes' protective tear film. This loss can initially cause sub-acute vision-related problems, such as decreased focus and productivity, and increased stress and fatigue. As moisture loss increases, symptoms become more pronounced: eyestrain, headache, stiff neck and shoulder, swollen tear glands, increased allergic reactions, and burning, itching, irritated eyes. Sustained moisture loss could result in permanent visual impairment.

Your patients' indoor environments are part of the problem, too. They're surrounded by additional dehydrating forces, such as wall and window insulation, forced-air heating and cooling, chemicals, fluorescent lighting, and computer screens.

A Multilayered Problem

Finding the best way to protect our eyes from these problems has been the subject of a decade of research into water and hydrotherapy, the specialization of Bio-Logic Aqua Technologies. The culmination of that research to date is Nature's Tears EyeMist, which combines a unique eye-mist technology and an application of a tissue-culture grade of water.

This represents a new approach to eye moisturization that utilizes the eye's natural ability to absorb unpolluted moisture from surrounding air. Nature's Tears EyeMist delivers a self-titrating diffusion of (patent-pending) micron-sized mist droplets, which instantly penetrate the lipid layer to supply beneficial moisture to the aqueous layer.

The company's tissue-culture grade of water is essential to this because of its natural purity, ideal mineral content and pH level of 6.4. It's absorbed more readily and promotes health and natural balances better than other waters. To be considered tissue-culture grade, water must support cell growth and maintenance in the laboratory when it's used to reconstitute growth medium for cells.

Based on a 1999 study, Julia Oxford, Ph.D., a molecular and cellular biologist and professor at Boise State University, concluded that the water in Nature's Tears EyeMist is of tissue-culture grade quality.

As an ophthalmologist, you're aware of the tear film's structure and its importance in absorbing and retaining optical moisture. Between the outer lipid layer and the mucin layer lies the aqueous layer. It contains water, electrolytes, beneficial proteins and antibodies. The majority of moisture loss in dry, irritated eyes occurs in the aqueous layer. This layer cleanses the eyes of irritants, reacts to changes in the environment, and fights off bacteria. It also supplies oxygen and electrolytes to bloodless components of the ocular surface.

Nature's Tears EyeMist uses this information in a unique manner, differently than the chemically formulated eyedrops that have been the standard treatment for dry eyes. Those drops are beneficial because they trap and seal tear film moisture to slow evaporation, but for that benefit to occur, the tear film must first contain adequate moisture.

Drops often contain up to ten times the total tear film volume and may wash away the delicate tear film structure, including the protective lipid layer and beneficial antibodies and oxygenated moisture in the aqueous layer, all of which exposes the eye to further dehydration. EyeMist works with eyedrops by replenishing lost moisture.

A More Complete Solution

Nature's Tears EyeMist is applied immediately prior to eyedrops to bring tear film moisture to normal levels. It's preservative- and allergen-free. It's convenient, has no dosage limit, and doesn't require your patients to touch their eyelids, which can be unsafe, especially in unsanitary conditions.

These are all important considerations in your efforts to bring relief and eye health to your growing numbers of dry eye patients.

Sharon F. Kleyne is the founder, chairman and research director of Bio-Logic Aqua Technologies, maker of Nature's Tears EyeMist.