Staged therapy for the dry eye.

A variety of therapeutic options are now available for treating the dry eye. As a result, an ophthalmologist faced with an untreated dry eye patient will have to select an initial treatment modality from a range of possibilities. More often, however, a dry eye patient will have already been treated with a variety of eye drops, devices, and procedures, so that a fresh approach is needed, following analysis of the patient's current condition. This article reviews one specialist's therapy for dry eye and the rationale for that therapy. An approach is recommended in which treatment of the dry eye is advanced in stages according to the severity of the condition and its response to each level of therapy.