Medically reviewed by Dr. Michael Nodland, OD · Updated August 2026
Call (561) 799-3932 or book an appointment.
Dry eye is a medical condition in which your eyes don’t produce enough tears, or the tears you produce evaporate too quickly to keep the surface of the eye stable. That unstable surface is what causes the burning, grit and blur. It’s a chronic condition, which means the goal is control and comfort rather than a one-time fix.
What are the symptoms of dry eye?
Dry eye symptoms are often vague and easy to blame on something else — tiredness, screens, allergies, an old prescription. These are the ones we hear most often:
- Burning or stinging that builds through the day and is worst by evening
- Grittiness — the feeling that something is in your eye when nothing is
- Watery eyes, which sounds backwards but is one of the most common signs
- Blurred vision that clears when you blink, then goes soft again a few seconds later
- Redness along the white of the eye, particularly late in the day
- Contact lenses that stopped being comfortable after years of wearing them without trouble
- Light sensitivity, especially glare from headlights or bright sun
- Tired, heavy eyes after reading, driving or screen work
Why do my eyes water if they’re dry?
Watery eyes are often a dry eye symptom, not the opposite of one. When the surface of the eye dries out and becomes irritated, it triggers a reflex flood of watery tears — a distress signal, not normal lubrication.
Those reflex tears are thin. They lack the oil layer that keeps a tear film in place, so they run down your cheek instead of coating the eye. That’s why people with genuinely dry eyes are sometimes told they can’t possibly have dry eye.
Why is dry eye so common in South Florida?
Living here works against your tear film in several ways at once. Air conditioning runs nearly year-round, and it dehumidifies as it cools; ceiling fans push moving air across your eyes for hours at a time.
Add sun, wind, salt air and time on the water, and evaporation gets a lot of help. Palm Beach Gardens also skews older, and dry eye becomes far more common after 50. It’s more common in women, particularly after menopause, when hormonal changes affect the glands that produce the oil layer of the tear film.
What causes dry eye?
Most dry eye falls into two categories, and many people have some of both.
| Evaporative dry eye | Aqueous deficient dry eye | |
|---|---|---|
| What’s wrong | The oil layer is poor, so tears evaporate too fast | The eye doesn’t make enough tear volume |
| Common causes | Blocked oil glands in the lids, blepharitis, reduced blinking during screen use | Age, autoimmune conditions, some medications |
| Typical pattern | Worse in A/C, wind, and late in the day | Constant dryness, often with contact lens intolerance |
| How common | The majority of cases | Less common, often coexists with the above |
Other contributors include antihistamines, some blood pressure and antidepressant medications, previous eye surgery, thyroid disease, and long stretches of screen work, which cuts your blink rate substantially.
How is dry eye diagnosed?
Dry eye is diagnosed by examining the tear film and the surface of the eye directly, not by symptoms alone — symptoms and clinical findings often don’t match. Dr. Nodland reviews your symptoms and medications, then examines your lids, oil glands, tear film and cornea under magnification. This can be done as part of a comprehensive eye exam or as a visit of its own.
Dyes that stain dry or damaged areas of the surface are commonly used, along with measurements of how quickly the tear film breaks up and how much tear volume is present. The point is to identify which type of dry eye you have, because the treatment differs.
What are the treatment options?
Treatment starts with the simplest option likely to work and steps up only if it doesn’t. In broad order:
- Environmental changes — redirecting fans and vents, humidifying, wraparound sunglasses outdoors, deliberate blink breaks during screen work
- Artificial tears — preservative-free formulations if you’re using them more than a few times a day
- Lid hygiene and warm compresses — for blocked oil glands, done consistently rather than occasionally
- Nutritional support — omega-3 intake, discussed alongside your other medications
- Prescription drops — anti-inflammatory medications that treat the underlying inflammation rather than the symptom
- Punctal plugs — tiny inserts that slow tear drainage so your own tears stay on the eye longer
- In-office procedures — treatments aimed at the oil glands and lid margin for cases that don’t respond to the above
What if drops aren’t enough?
If you’re using artificial tears several times a day and still uncomfortable, drops aren’t solving the problem — they’re masking it. Frequent use of preserved drops can irritate the surface further.
That’s usually the point at which the cause matters. Inflammation and blocked oil glands don’t respond to lubrication alone, and they need to be treated directly.
Does insurance cover dry eye treatment?
Dry eye is a medical condition, so it’s billed to your medical insurance, not your vision plan. Vision plans cover routine exams, glasses and contacts. Medical insurance covers the diagnosis and management of disease, and dry eye sits squarely on that side of the line.
Eye Expressions accepts Medicare, VSP, EyeMed, Humana, Aetna, Anthem, Blue View Vision, MetLife, Superior Vision, Davis Vision and Advantica. When a dry eye visit is booked ahead, we check your benefits first and send you an estimated copay — a medical-side estimate, since that is the side a dry eye claim goes to.
Plan networks vary — being covered by a carrier is not the same as your specific plan being one we are contracted with. Call (561) 799-3932 with your card and we will check before you come in. If you are paying for yourself, a comprehensive eye exam is $179. The insurance page sets out the full vision-versus-medical comparison.
Why treat dry eye before prescribing new glasses?
Your tear film is the first lens light passes through, and a prescription measured through a tear film that keeps breaking up is a measurement of the break-up, not of your eye. Light crosses the tear layer before it reaches the cornea. When that layer is smooth it behaves like polished glass. When it thins and ruptures between blinks — which is what evaporative dry eye is — the surface goes irregular for a few seconds, resets when you blink, then goes irregular again.
You can usually feel this happening during the exam. The letters sharpen right after a blink and soften a moment later, and you find yourself choosing between two lens options that both looked right at some point. The answer you give depends on where in the blink cycle you were asked.
Order glasses from that reading and one of three things tends to follow. The lenses feel nearly right but never quite settle. They feel right in the office and wrong at your desk with the air conditioning blowing. Or your vision fluctuates all day, which no lens can correct, because the lens is not the thing that is changing. In every case the usual verdict is a bad prescription or a bad lab, when the surface was the variable the whole time.
There is a second reason to deal with the surface first. Inflammation on the cornea distorts the front of the eye in a way that also affects contact lens comfort and, for anyone considering laser vision correction, candidacy — untreated dry eye is one of the most common reasons a refractive surgeon says “not yet.” If that is on your mind, read the LASIK consultation page.
So the sequence is deliberate: treat the surface, then refract, then order. It is one visit longer and it is the difference between a prescription that works this week and one that still works next spring.
Frequently asked questions
Can dry eye be cured? No. Dry eye is a chronic condition that’s managed rather than cured. Most people get good, lasting relief with a routine that suits their type of dry eye, but stopping treatment usually means symptoms return.
Does dry eye rule out laser vision correction? Not automatically, but it is one of the most common reasons a refractive surgeon defers a candidate, and an eye that is already dry can be drier for a period after surgery. Treating the surface first is usually what changes the answer. See the LASIK consultation page.
Are over-the-counter drops safe to use every day? Preservative-free artificial tears are generally fine for regular use. If you need drops more than about four times a day, choose preservative-free and book an exam — that level of need points to an underlying cause worth identifying.
Can I still wear contact lenses? Often, yes. Contact lens discomfort is a common first sign of dry eye, and treating the surface frequently restores comfortable wear. Sometimes a change in lens material or replacement schedule is part of the answer, which is worked out at a contact lens exam and fitting.
Is dry eye related to screen time? Yes. Blink rate drops substantially during concentrated screen work, so the tear film sits and evaporates. It rarely causes dry eye on its own, but it reliably makes existing dry eye worse.
Book a dry eye exam in Palm Beach Gardens
If your eyes burn, water, or blur through the day, have them examined rather than working through another bottle of drops. Dry eye care sits alongside the rest of the eye care services at Eye Expressions.
Eye Expressions · 7100 Fairway Drive, Suite 39, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418 — on Fairway Drive just off PGA Boulevard, with parking at the door.
Call (561) 799-3932 or book an appointment online. Hours: Monday–Friday 10am–6pm. The optical is open Saturday 9am–2pm for frames, pickups and adjustments; Dr. Nodland does not hold regular Saturday exam hours and the online scheduler does not offer Saturday, so a Saturday exam has to be requested by phone.