A calm, unhurried appointment that looks at exactly what's happening with your tear film, so treatment can be built around your eyes rather than guesswork. This is where every dry eye management plan at Eyecare Concepts begins.
Most people who see us for dry eye have already tried a bottle or two of lubricating drops from the pharmacy. Some help for a while, some don't help much at all, and it's rarely clear why. That's the problem with treating dry eye by trial and error: without knowing what's actually driving your symptoms, you're guessing.
A Dry Eye Assessment replaces that guesswork with a clear picture. Over one relaxed appointment, we look at your symptoms, your tear film and your eyelid glands using purpose-built technology, so we can tell you, with evidence, what's really going on and what will genuinely help.
There's a quieter benefit here too. Dry, irritated eyes affect how you look as well as how you feel, from redness and puffiness to a tired, strained appearance by the end of the day. Getting your tear film properly assessed and settled is very often the first step towards looking, and feeling, refreshed again.
Every Dry Eye Assessment at Eyecare Concepts is performed by an experienced optometrist, not delegated to a quick machine scan. The technology gives us the data; the clinical judgement is what turns that data into a plan that's actually right for you.
Five straightforward steps, each building on the last, so nothing about your dry eye is left to guesswork.
We start by listening. The Ocular Surface Disease Index, or OSDI, is a validated questionnaire covering how your eyes feel and how dry eye is affecting daily life, reading, screens, driving, even how comfortable you feel in your own skin. It gives us a baseline score we can track at future visits to see whether treatment is genuinely working.
A thorough check of your overall eye health and vision, so any dry eye findings are considered alongside the full picture rather than in isolation. This also lets us rule out other conditions that can mimic or worsen dry eye symptoms.
Using our Oculus Keratograph 5M and Topcon TERA, we capture detailed, non-invasive images of your tear film, measuring how quickly it breaks down, how much tear volume you have, and how much surface redness and irritation is present. Nothing about this step is uncomfortable, it's simply careful, close-up imaging.
Specialised imaging of your meibomian glands, the tiny oil glands along your eyelid margins responsible for most cases of dry eye. Meibography shows us directly whether these glands are healthy, blocked or lost, information that simply isn't visible on a standard eye exam.
We finish with an unhurried conversation about your dry eye severity, the risk factors specific to you, and what it all means. From there, we talk through a management strategy suited to your findings, whether that's a simple routine or a more active in-clinic treatment plan.
Objective, repeatable measurements take dry eye assessment well beyond a visual check, and give us something concrete to track over time.
A trusted, widely used dry eye imaging system that measures non-invasive tear break-up time, tear meniscus height and ocular surface redness, all without a single drop or a single touch to the eye. It's one of the clearest ways to see tear film instability as it's actually happening.
One of the newest dry eye analysis systems available, and we're proud to be among the Melbourne clinics offering it. Topcon TERA adds a further, detailed layer of tear film and ocular surface analysis alongside the Keratograph 5M, so your assessment reflects the most current diagnostic technology available.
No single instrument tells the whole story of dry eye. Combining the Keratograph 5M and Topcon TERA with meibography gives us cross-checked, corroborating evidence rather than a single data point, which is exactly what a genuine diagnosis needs.
Your assessment findings determine which of these suit your eyes, there's no one-size-fits-all starting point. Here's the full range of in-clinic treatments your management plan may draw on.
Targeted light pulses near the eyelids reduce inflammation and help restore meibomian gland function.
A gentle light-based treatment often paired with IPL to further support gland function.
Controlled, moist heat warms and loosens thickened oil in the meibomian glands, a genuinely relaxing part of treatment.
An in-clinic procedure that thoroughly cleans the eyelid margin, removing debris and biofilm.
Gentle, controlled pressure clears blocked glands directly, often paired with heat-based treatment.
The full range of additional options we draw on, from lid hygiene routines to specialty contact lenses.
Your assessment is led by optometrists with a particular focus on dry eye, not a technician running through a checklist.
Dr Jessica Atme has a particular focus on dry eye care, guiding patients through their assessment with a calm, thorough approach and translating what the imaging shows into a management plan that actually fits their day-to-day life.
Dr Loretta Li brings extensive experience in ocular surface disease to every assessment, taking the time to explain the science behind each finding so patients leave understanding exactly what's happening with their eyes.
Dry eye deserves the same level of proper diagnosis as any other chronic eye condition, delivered somewhere that doesn't feel clinical and rushed. Our Dry Eye Assessment combines detailed diagnostic imaging with an unhurried, comfortable appointment, so care is built around what your eyes actually need.
We see patients from right across Melbourne specifically for dry eye assessment and care, with our Kew East practice easily accessible from Hawthorn, Camberwell, Balwyn and Box Hill. The goal is simple: help you feel comfortable, look refreshed, and rely far less on drops day to day.
Ready to understand what's really behind your dry eye? Book your Dry Eye Assessment and take the first step.
If dry eye is affecting how you feel, or how you look, a proper assessment is the calm, unhurried first step towards understanding what's really going on, and finding a treatment plan that actually helps.