Approaches to dry eye diagnosis and management across the world

The Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) second Dry Eye Workshop (DEWS II) reports were published in 2017. These brought practitioners up to date on the evidence basis for dry eye disease (DED), including our current understanding of the pathophysiology, a consensus-refined definition and a more definitive approach to diagnosis, as well as outlining efficacious management options. However, in doing so, it also recognised the lack of published randomised clinical trials available to inform practitioners on how management options compare to one another at different levels of disease severity and across the spectrum of dry eye subtypes, from evaporative to aqueous deficiency. Hence an anonymous, cross-sectional online questionnaire (in Qualtrics) was administered to eyecare professionals around the world with the support of the TFOS ambassadors. Translated into 14 languages, this six-question survey sought to determine the management and treatment approaches taken by eyecare practitioners worldwide, based on disease severity and subclassification.