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Survey indicates physicians want better treatment options for dry eye disease
Eye Contact Lens. 2010;36(1):33-38.
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An online survey completed by 235 ophthalmologists throughout the United States found that more treatment options are needed for dry eye disease.
The survey was sent to 7,882 ophthalmologists, including 51 cornea specialists. Of those, 3.1% responded, but only those who treated four or more moderate to severe dry eye disease patients per month were asked to complete the survey.
The survey found that 94% of respondents believe more treatment options are necessary for dry eye disease, and corneal specialists were more likely to strongly agree with that statement than general ophthalmologists. Of those polled, 33% of respondents think that current treatment options for dry eye disease are extremely effective or very effective.
In all, 92% of respondents agreed that multiple therapeutic agents are necessary to manage disease; they said that an average of 3.2 treatments are necessary to treat patients with moderate symptoms and 4.9 are necessary for severe symptoms. A total of 74% of ophthalmologists ranked maintaining and protecting the ocular surface as the first or second most important treatment goal, while 67% ranked lubricating and hydrating the ocular surface as the first or second most important goal, according to the study.