“Tearing, dry sensation, sandy feeling, redness, frequent blinking, at times blurry I panic, sometimes I get headaches, sticky eyelids, unable to open in the morning.”

As an eye doctor, I listened to the usual litany of people describing how their eyes feel, uncomfortable has different names and forms, and the most common culprit I say is dry eyes syndrome, too often underestimated but so many are affected. I like this eye disease it is so benign, a lot of cases are mild, mild enough to make you take a moment for yourself, take a break from your screen, close your eyes and momentarily have an inward awareness that you have been staring at your screen for too long, you forgot to blink. You’re stressed until your immunity is so down, eyelid infections are growing out of your tear glands that you don’t produce normal healthy tears.

When we blink our eyes, the motion is smooth, almost unthinkable, it’s a reflex. A blink reflex every 5 seconds is normal, longer than that your eyes dry especially under low humidity conditions in airconditioned rooms. Normal healthy is constantly produced and drained. Healthy production involves different glands, one that produce a watery layer, one that produce a mucoid layer and one that produce a lipid, oily layer. I can respectfully name them all but I have to stress their functions more than their names. These structures and their production are affected by hormones, stress, immune status, medications, drugs, eye surgeries, procedures, infections, dietary intake and environment condition.

Deficiency of one layer will present with symptoms unique to each patient, the longer the deficiency in tear production, the worse the symptoms will become. There are different modalities available to address each type, the key is to identify which layer is deficient, although so many cases are mixed deficiencies. If the watery or mucoid layer is more affected there are available eyedrops that can replace those components, a little harder to find than the very famous over the counter anti red eye drops, but definitely effective.

The oily layer deficiency is stepwise to address and maybe tedious for our patients. First step is cleaning the eyelids every day with an eyelid cleanser, second is eating a diet rich in omega 3 fatty acids, and then replacing natural tears with artificial tears in form of eyedrops frequently. This has been our stepwise eye treatment in the past.

Before

After

A new research and innovative device is now available, as part of eye treatment advise by eye doctors. A novel eyelid cleaning deep cleaning device helps to resurface the oily layer of the tear film, cutting short the tedious daily eyelid cleaning and frequent application of eye drops. It is innovative with thousands of micro rotations per minute, unclogging the glands producing the oily layer, removing the bacterial biofilm build up over the years and helping restore the natural tears you normally produce.

So many patients are happier with less symptoms and free of the need of frequent eye drop application. I am also happy with this device and this technology. It is cost effective and has so much symptomatic relief.

Humans of New Eyes: A retired teacher rediscovering the joy of sight

Every eye holds a story of hope and triumph. At the eye clinic, we’ve seen countless lives change because of clearer vision — and our lola’s journey is one that continues to inspire us and many others.

Meet our lola

Our beautiful patient is a retired teacher, and a loving grandmother who has always found comfort in reading. For years, she enjoyed her quiet moments with books and sharing stories with her grandchildren. But slowly, she noticed her eyesight was fading. Letters became blurry, and the pages of her favorite novels began to look like shadows. She used to work on research but recently her eyesight is giving away.

Daily struggle

She thought it was normal — just part of growing old. But soon, even recognizing her grandchildren’s faces became difficult. “I felt like I was losing not just my sight, but the small joys that made life meaningful,” she said. She began having difficulty from the things she loved most.

That changed when she visited our eye clinic. During her consultation, our team listened to her concerns with empathy and explained her condition clearly. We assured her that cataract surgery is not only safe but life-changing — and together, we created a plan for her visual recovery.

What changed

The surgery was smooth and successful. A few days later, Our lola opened a book again — and to her surprise, she could read every word. “I cried,” she shared. “I didn’t realize how much I had missed until everything became clear again.”

With her restored vision, She now enjoys reading, family time, and the beauty of ordinary moments. Her confidence is back, and so is her joy. What once felt like an ending has turned into a beautiful new chapter.

Her story is proof that it’s never too late to reclaim the life you love. At Italia Eye Clinic, we’re here to help you see clearly again — with expert care and a heart for every patient. Book your consultation today. Your own story of healing could begin now.

For online appointments: https://seriousmd.com/doc/izza-italia

“Some letters become blurry”

“I used to can see far, now, I can’t”

“I get headaches all the time, and maybe I have a grado (refractive error)”

These are commonly said when a health partner (patient) comes into our eye clinic.

I am Dr. Izza Italia, Diplomate of the Philippine Board of Ophthalmology currently practicing in Angeles City.

First Impressions Last

When patients arrived, after setting their appointments, first to greet them is our secretary. She will smile at you and help you settle, and input vital identification information in our health care app, SeriousMD/NowServing. https://nowserving.seriousmd.com/doctot/izza-italia

Our secretary usually obtain your visual complaint, your visual status and your refraction using an automated refractometer.

This will help us later on in giving the patients their best corrective refraction.

Listen to your body 

As soon as the patient comes to the room, the ophthalmologist sits across and helps you expound on how you really feel or how you really see. It is important to give as much detail to the eye doctor as you can.

This will help us formulate a working diagnosis combined with your clinical findings

Sit comfortably and relax

Your ophthalmologist will instruct you to sit on an examining slit lamp table. Your chin and forehead must be properly aligned. It helps with better visualization of your eye structures. and faster examination.

We apologize for shining too much light in your eye, we just really have to look for everything.

As ophthalmologist, we like to check the front surface (cornea and sclera) of your eye, the anterior portion (anterior chamber) of your eye, the colored part (iris) of your eye and the perfect lens behind the colored part.

Drops are for further examination

Sometimes your eye pressures also need to be measure. Just like blood pressure, eyes have intraocular pressure. Before using the device, we have to numb the eyes with a stinging eyedrop to get an accurate pressure reading.

The stinging sensation also will wear off in a few seconds and you can sit comfortably again.

Some drops known as dilating eyedrops are used for a more detailed examination of the back of the eye, or the retina

Lights and Lenses 

Some parts of your beautiful eyes need special equipment and lenses. Your ophthalmologist will take these from a small box and asks you to look in certain directions to view different parts of your eyes.

These lenses help the eye doctor see your anterior chamber angles, optic nerves, retina, macula and the retinal vessels. Just to check if everything okay.

What could this be?

Much of the time spent in your eye doctor’s office will lead to this. She explains to you what is happening with you, your symptoms and what to do about it, for the mean time and for a long time.

If you have further questions, this is the time to ask your doctor, what’s in it for me and what should I watch out for.

Follow up

You will be relieved of your worry after talking to a professional. and in a step wise fashion, you should schedule a follow up appointment with your doctor if necessary. Patients are health care partners in taking care of their visual health.

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