title: Patients' Perspectives on Their Dry Eye Disease.
abstract: Although it has been known that patients' perspectives on their disease can significantly affect their level of functional disability as well as disease outcome, limited data are available on patients' perceptions of their dry eye disease (DED). The aim of this questionnaire-based study was to evaluate patients' perspectives on their DED.
  
  
  
  This cross-sectional study included 91 patients with DED. In addition to clinical evaluation, all patients completed a questionnaire to evaluate their perspectives on their DED. This included their satisfaction with understanding DED, their opinion on the easiness of following doctors' advice, their opinion on the effectiveness of the treatment, their satisfaction with the eye care, and their general outlook on DED.
  
  
  
  This study included 75 (82%) women and 16 men (18%) with a mean age of 57 ± 14 years who had been treated for DED for 5.2 ± 5.4 years. 93% of the patients were satisfied with their understanding of DED, and 76% found it easy to follow their doctors' advice for DED management. Furthermore, 95% thought that the DED treatment had been helpful and 95% were satisfied with their eye care for DED. Forty-eight percent expressed optimism regarding the long-term prospects of their DED.
  
  
  
  Although the majority of DED patients have positive perspectives on their disease, close to half report a lack of optimism regarding the long-term outlook for their condition.
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Alja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crnej
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kheirkhah
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Ai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mullins
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Alenka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lavric
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Kunal
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suri
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Pedram
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hamrah
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: reza_dana@meei.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dana
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D015352:Dry Eye Syndromes / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: disease perception; dry eye disease; patient satisfaction