Treatment of dry eye disease by the non-ophthalmologist.

Physicians caring for patients who have Sjögren's syndrome often face a particularly difficult task in managing the dry eye that occurs with this disease. The discomfort produced by the condition and the fluctuation of vision attendant to tear film instability are often the most annoying of the clinical symptoms. The understanding of dry eye disease in both its clinical expression and underlying etiopathology has expanded over the past 10 years with implications for management and therapy. The array of potential treatments both topical and systemic has evolved to provide a much more targeted and effective arsenal from which the clinician may choose.