Dry eye is a very common problem that affects women more than men and becomes more prevalent as people get older.

Signs and symptoms can range from mild to severe.  It can present in many ways, with symptoms that can include a foreign body sensation, burning, stinging, redness, blurred vision, and dryness. Tearing is another symptom and occurs because the eye initially becomes irritated from the lack of moisture and then there is a sudden flood of tears in response to the irritation....

Most people have probably never heard of punctal plugs, a sometimes-needed part of treating Dry Eye Syndrome.

This syndrome is a multifactorial problem that comes from a generalized decrease in the amount and quality of the tears you make.  There is often both a lack of tear volume and  of inflammation in the tear glands, which interferes with tear production and also causes the quality of the tears to decline.

We make tears through two different mechanisms.  One is called a basal secretion of...