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June 20, 2017
Vision Community Recognizes July as Dry Eye Awareness Month with Release of Major Study of the Disease to be featured in a Congressional Briefing
(Washington, D.C.) Today, the vision community and its coalition partners announced enhanced education and communications in 2017 around recognition of July as
Dry Eye Awareness Month. This is due to the July publication in
The Ocular Surface journal of the Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society’s (TFOS) Dry Eye Workshop II (TFOS DEWS II™) Report. In this first re-examination of the topic since the initial report issued in 2007, TFOS DEWS II™ will update the definition, classification, and diagnosis of dry eye; critically evaluate the epidemiology, pathophysiology, mechanism, and impact of the disease; address its management and therapy; and develop recommendations for the design of clinical trials to assess pharmaceutical interventions.
TFOS DEWS II™ highlights will be presented at a July 12 Congressional Briefing entitled
Dry Eye: An Updated Definition, A Greater Impact on Vision Health—co-hosted by TFOS and the Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR)—to be held from 12 Noon – 1:15 pm in Rayburn 2168 (Gold Room). The Briefing will be bookended by a “Test Your Tears” Dry Eye Screening and Dry Eye Researcher Poster Presentation from 11:30 am – 2 pm. The vision community is making Congressional education about dry eye a priority since it impacts healthcare policy, as it is one of the most frequent causes of patient visits to eye care providers, and since federal research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including its National Eye Institute (NEI), is being used to study dry eye causes and develop treatments.
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