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Punctal plugs are something we use to help treat 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 inflammation in the tear glands, which interfere with tear production and also cause the quality of the tears to not be as good.
We make tears through two different mechanisms. One is called a basal secretion of tears, meaning a constant low flow or production of tears to keep the eye moist and comfortable. There is a second mechanism called reflexive tear production, which is a sudden flood of tears caused by the excitation of nerves on the eye surface when they detect inflammatory conditions or foreign body sensations. It is a useful reflexive nerve loop that helps wash out any foreign body or toxic substance you might get in the eye by flooding the eye with tears. Consider what happens when you get suntan lotion in your eye. The nerves detect the irritation that the lotion creates, and your eyes quickly flood with tears.
That reflex mechanism is how some people get tearing even though the underlying cause of that tearing is dry eye. They don’t produce enough of the basal tears, the eye surface gets irritated and then the reflex tearing kicks in and floods their eyes, tearing them up. Once that reflex is gone then the eye
An old Creek Indian proverb states, "We warm our hands by the fires we did not build, we drink the water from the wells we did not dig, we eat the fruit of the trees we did not plant, and we stand on the shoulders of giants who have gone before us."
In 1961, the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA) was formed. This association stewards over 80 eye banks in the US with over 60,000 recipients each year of corneal tissue that restores sight to blind people. Over one million men, women, and children have had vision restored and pain relieved from eye injury or disease. The Eye Bank Association of America is truly a giant whom shoulders that we stand upon today. Their service and foresight into helping patients with blindness is remarkable.
It is important to give back the gift of sight. You may be asking, “How does this affect me?” On the back of your drivers license form there is a box that can be checked for being an organ donor. Many people forego this option because they are not educated on the benefits of it. There are many eye diseases that rob people of sight because of an opacity, pain, or disease process of the cornea. Keratoconus, a disease that causes malformation of the curvature of the cornea, can be treated by a corneal transplant. Chemical burns that cause scarring on the cornea leave people blinded or partially blind.
