Most of the time, taking occasional breaks to use preservative-free eye drops, decreasing contact lens wearing time, or other simple measures recommended by your eye doctor are sufficient to treat dry eyes. When these are not enough, we use a simple, 5-minute, in-office technique called punctal plugs. In this painless non-surgical procedure, tiny, soft, invisible plugs are used to temporarily close off the tear drains of your lids (like closing the drain in a sink to keep the water in it longer). People tell us this dry eye therapy sounds a bit unusual, but it really works. This treatment, which is often covered by insurance plans, has allowed many of our patients to wear their contact lenses comfortably again, work at the computer without frequent breaks, and greatly reduce their need for eye drops.
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