What is your experience with Dry Eye in relation to Menopause?
Hormones absolutely affect your eyes. Any time in life that fluctuates your hormones can cause fluctuations in dry eye severity. Currently being pregnant, the 1st trimester and 2nd trimester were great for my (Dr. Jenna's) dry eyes, but the 3rd trimester has been absolutely horrible. We see dry eyes a ton in menopausal females, so this is very common. Hormone fluctuations that occur during that time are a big contributor, although it's difficult to pinpoint specific hormones that are causing the issue.
To give you an example, when we do our marketing we focus on post-menopausal females just because we see dry eye in these patients in our chair everyday. We always actively ask them how are their eyes are feeling and how often do they put drops in. Even though if they may say they don’t use drops, they will start coming out eventually! Pretty much everybody after menopause has some form of dry eye, it’s just a matter of if how you control it.
Dry eyes because of hormone issues is often treated similarly to other forms of dry eye. Hormone Replacement Therapy is not recommended, as this can often make things worse. If you are going through menopause, know that dry eye is completely normal during this time.
Are you dealing with menopause or fluctuating hormones? Has it affected your eyes?
One Love,
Drs. Travis and Jenna Zigler
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