because

There is much amiss

in the world of what we call
dry eye disease.

Too many of us

are not getting
relief for pain
or accurate and meaningful diagnosis
or support and accommodations in the workplace
let alone effective treatments.

Too many of us

feel as though
no one
inside or outside the medical community
understands our plight
and can offer any solutions.

and we know

what is broken can be fixed

with willing hands and the right tools

here at the dry eye foundation

WE KNOW

that we, as a community, can join together
and together we can and we will turn this ship around.

AND WE HAVE ALLIES

in healthcare, in research, in industry

people who see what we see
people who know it’s broken
people who want change too
and who are willing to help.

SO WE WILL COME TOGETHER

and because we CARE

we will all learn to LEAD

the conversations in our community,
in medicine, in research, in the workplace,
in managed care, in insurance, in government
and everywhere else where conversations need to happen
in order to

change outcomes

and restore
quality of life

for people suffering from “dry eye disease”.

and the first step

is to let our words

and our numbers

so our survey

“dry eye disease and me”

is all about aggregating our stories into
data
data that speak to OUR realities
data that speak to OUR experiences
data that tell OUR stories

our data, told our way

will help us tell

the untold story of dry eye disease

to ophthalmology, and optometry, to clinicians and researchers,
to administrators and policymakers and funders

because solutions start with telling the story