The Dry Eye Profile
Fifteen questions, about three minutes. Find your likely dry eye type, what’s making it worse, and what to try first.
Before you start
- This isn’t a diagnosis. It’s a structured way to think through your symptoms before you see an eye doctor, or while you wait for an appointment.
- Your answers stay in your browser. If you choose to email yourself the plan, we use them only to write that email and keep just your email address.
- Answer for a typical week, not your best or worst day.
Keyboard friendly: press 1 to 9 to answer and Enter to continue.
How the profile works
Eye doctors diagnose dry eye with tests: how fast your tear film breaks up, how salty your tears are, and what your oil glands look like on imaging. No quiz can replace that. What a good set of questions can do is sort out which direction your symptoms point, so your first steps are the right ones.
The profile gives you a symptom load from 0 to 100, based on how often you feel dryness, grittiness, burning and blur, and how much it gets in the way of your day. Separately, it weighs dozens of clues that point toward the oil layer or the water layer of your tear film: when symptoms are worst, your medications, your age, your screen habits, your eyelids, your health history and your nights.
Those weights come from the risk factors described in the Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society’s DEWS reports and the research behind them. The profile is our own model, not a validated clinical questionnaire, and we say so on every result.
What you get
- A likely type: oil layer, water layer or mixed
- A symptom load you can retake and compare
- Flags for eyelid mites, allergy, medications, night-time dryness and Sjögren’s
- A step-by-step plan and matching products
- What to ask an eye doctor about
The three patterns
Most people with dry eye fall into one of these, and many have a bit of both.
Oil layer (evaporative)
The oil glands along the eyelids stop releasing enough good oil, so tears evaporate too fast. Worse on screens and through the day. By far the most common pattern.
Water layer (low tear production)
The tear glands don’t make enough watery tears. More common after 50, with menopause, with some medications and with autoimmune conditions.
Mixed
A bit of both, which is common with age. The oil layer is thin and there’s less water to protect, so both need support.
Questions about the profile
Is this a dry eye test?
No. It’s a structured questionnaire that points you in the right direction. A diagnosis of dry eye needs an eye exam with tests such as tear break-up time, tear osmolarity or surface staining. The profile helps you decide what to try first and what to ask about.
How accurate is it?
It reliably separates people with few symptoms from people with a lot, because the symptom questions cover the same ground as clinical questionnaires. The oil versus water split is an informed lean, not a measurement. Treat it as a starting hypothesis that an eye doctor can confirm.
Do you store my answers?
No. The profile runs entirely in your browser, and your last score is saved only on your own device so you can compare next time. If you ask us to email your plan, your type, score and answers are used to write that one email and then discarded. We keep only your email address and whether you want the newsletter.
What if my symptoms are severe?
If you have eye pain, a sudden change in vision, strong light sensitivity, one very red eye or discharge, see an eye doctor promptly rather than starting a routine. For long-running, severe dryness, a dry eye specialist can offer treatments that nothing over the counter can match.
How often should I retake it?
Every four to six weeks while you’re trying a new routine. Most treatments, from warm compresses to prescription drops, take at least a month to show what they can do.