Guide · dry eye on the NHS
Can the NHS treat dry eye? What your GP and optician can do
The NHS can help with dry eye: advice, drops, and a referral if your eyes are at risk. Treatments that clear the oil glands, such as IPL, are not usually available on the NHS. Here is what to expect from each route.
What the NHS usually offers
For most people with dry eye, the NHS route is advice and lubricating drops. Your pharmacist can recommend drops, and your GP can prescribe some of them. A warm compress and lid cleaning are usually suggested too. Which drops suit which dry eye.
When you are referred
If your eyes are painful, red, your sight is affected, or the surface of the eye is damaged, you may be referred to an eye department, where prescription drops such as ciclosporin can be started. Prescription drops, explained. A red, painful eye or a change in your sight should be seen the same day: urgent eye care.
What is usually private
Treatments that clear the blocked oil glands, the cause of most dry eye, are not generally available on the NHS. That includes IPL and in-clinic gland clearing. These are the treatments that change how your eyes feel day to day, rather than topping up the tears.
Where we fit
If you qualify for a free NHS eye test, it is the same full check with the same optometrist. If dry eye is the problem, the Dry Eye Assessment (£145) goes further: it measures your tears, the surface of your eye and your glands, and shows you which kind of dry eye you have. If you need an NHS referral or a prescription, we refer you to your GP, or give you a letter with our findings to take to them. If a private treatment would help, we tell you which one and what it costs. Every dry eye treatment, compared.
The short version
- The NHS usually offers advice, drops and a referral if your eyes are at risk
- IPL and in-clinic gland clearing are usually private
- A red, painful eye or changed sight: be seen the same day
- Our £145 assessment shows which kind you have, and we refer you to your GP if needed