Dry Eyes Prevalence In Indonesia Reaches 41 Percent, Doctor: Many Patients Come When It's Bad

Illustration of dry eyes. (Shutterstcok)

JAKARTA - Dry eyes are one of the problems of eye health that people often don't realize. In fact, based on Study of Identify Growth Opportunities data: Findings Presentation, the prevalence of dry eyes reached 41 percent for Jabodetabek and Bandung areas.

One of the main causes of the prevalence of high dry eyes is the low level of public awareness of dry eye conditions. This results in the condition of dry eyes that are not handled to a heavier level.

People tend to ignore the changes that occur in the eyes, which can be an early symptom of dry eyes. Starting from the eyes feel short, painful, and tired.

"Patients who come because the eyes are dry are very large. Most of the dry eye patients come when their condition is quite severe," said an Eye Specialist from JEC Eye Hospitals and Clinics, Dr. Eka Octaviani Budiningtyas, SpM, in the Kebayoran Baru area, Jakarta, on Friday, November 7, 2025.

"They didn't realize that they had dry eyes, even though initial symptoms such as the eyes felt tight, sore, and tired have been around for a long time," he added.

If you have experienced these symptoms, it is recommended to check eye health with a doctor. This is to evaluate the overall condition of the eye, determine the causes, and implement the appropriate dry eye.

Examination must be carried out because the types of dry eyes are different, so the implementation of them will also be different for everyone. The ways to deal with dry eyes range from warm compresses to using artificial tears as a substitute for tears.

For the implementation of dry eyes themselves vary, it can be from warm compresses, lidhygiene, flickering exercises, and also the provision of artificial tears as a substitute for tears, as well as supporting vitamins such as omega-3. In very severe symptoms, surgery can even be carried out," he explained.

As for artificial tears that can be used to treat the symptoms of dry eyes, such as Sepet, sore, and tired, one of which is INSTA Dry Eyes. This is specially formulated with Hydroxypropyl Methylcellose (HPMC).

HPMC is an active material content even proposed by the International Council of Ophtalmology (ICO) to the World Health Organization (WHO) as a therapeutic guideline to treat the symptoms of dry eyes, because it can work as a lubricant that resembles tears and relieve irritation due to lack of tear production.

"The lack of public awareness about dry eyes has prompted us to launch a Free Eye SePeLe campaign to raise awareness of the symptoms of dry eyes and the importance of handling dry eyes early on," continued Director of PT Combiphar, Weitarsa Hendarto.