Not a dry eye in the house

Hands-on at the exhibit

• Test your eye comfort and tear film stability, and take away your results
• Try some of the innovative treatments which can be used  to treat dry eye
• Create your own tear film to see how difficult it is to balance the components in a dynamic environment to maximise comfort and vision, and minimise tear film loss

Find out more

Modern living can damage our eyes’ natural defences, but research is coming to the rescue.

Tears aren’t simply a signal that we’re sad or happy, they’re essential for keeping our eyes healthy. A film of tears should cover the surface of our eyes at all times, but dry eye disease affects about one in five adults and seems to be on the rise in children. At this exhibit you can test your eye health and find out about the latest treatments for dry eye.

The tear film covering our eyes is just microns thick, but it keeps our eyes moist and comfortable, helps to prevent infection and supports crystal-clear vision between blinks. Modern life can damage our tear films; air conditioning dries our eyes, and we blink less and often only partially when viewing our phones and tablets. Research at Aston University has shown that the increased saltiness of an unstable tear film makes the eyes more susceptible to UV damage. They have developed and validated new tests for diagnosis and innovative therapies for the treatment of this chronic disease, with more advances still to come.

Find out more about the European Dry Eye Network and Aston University.

Presented by: the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 642760, University Hospital Birmingham, the British Contact Lens Association, Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society, Aston EyeTech, Thea Pharmaceuticals, Reckitt Benckiser, Shire, Santen and The EyeBag company.