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Dry eye experts to explain study findings at congressional briefing
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The Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society announced that eye care professionals are returning to Congress July 11 to explain the impact that the group’s Dry Eye Workshop II report has on clinical practice and research.
“The treatment of dry eye remains something of an art, not easily lending itself to a rigid, evidence-based algorithm that accommodates all patients with dry eye symptoms or signs,” David A. Sullivan, PhD, FARVO, Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society’s Dry Eye Workshop II (TFOS DEWS II) organizer and moderator of the congressional briefing, said in a press release from TFOS.
TFOS DEWS II includes an updated definition, classification and diagnosis of dry eye. According to the TFOS release, the impact of the disease along with its epidemiology, pathophysiology and mechanism were evaluated, and management and therapy options were addressed. TFOS DEWS II also developed clinical trial design recommendations to better assess pharmaceutical interventions.
TFOS and the Alliance for Eye and Vision Research will co-host the briefing.
TFOS DEWS II has helped dry eye to be clinically recognized as a disease, and the definition has been updated to include the role of hyperosmolarity, inflammation and neurosensory abnormalities as etiologic pathological factors in dry eye disease, according to the TFOS release. Additionally, dry eye disease classification recognizes that neuropathic pain may cause symptoms without any signs, which could lead to symptomatic disease and poorer outcomes with ocular procedures. TFOS DEWS II not only helped to expand the understanding of the pathophysiology of dry eye disease, but it also identified that the central etiologic factor in the development of symptoms and signs is due to hyperosmolarity.
TFOS and the rest of the vision community focused congressional education on dry eye because it is one of the top reasons people visit an eye care provider. Moreover, because NIH and NEI receive federal research funding to study dry eye causes and treatment, the congressional briefing can also be used to impact health care policy.