A review on punctum plugs in the management of dry eye syndrome

With estimated prevalence ranging from 7.8% to 93.2% from different studies worldwide, dry eye disease is probably the most common ocular condition seen by eye care practitioners.1‒4 Apparently, Asian studies report higher prevalence than those from western countries and the 3 studies from India report the prevalence between 18.4% and 40.8%. Despite the common use of the term dry eye in ophthalmic literature, there was no formal definition of dry eye was proposed as 1995. The currently used definition of dry eye was proposed by the 2007 International dry eye Workshop, dry eye is a multi-factorial disease of the tears and ocular surface that results in symptoms of discomfort, visual disturbance, and tear film instability with potential damage to the ocular surface. It is accompanied by increased osmolarity of the tear film and inflammation of the ocular surface.5