Optometrist Dr Shaina Zheng has written a book that she hopes will help optometrists feel more confident when managing dry eye disease.
The Dry Eye Imperative, which will be published this September, explores why dry eye is often treated as secondary or complex, despite its impact on patients’ comfort, work, screen use, driving, confidence, and quality of life.
While dry eye is commonly encountered in optometry, Dr Zheng – a dry eye clinician, educator, and founder of Dry Eye Impact – said many patients continue to feel unsure, unsupported, or resigned to managing symptoms on their own.
She said for clinicians, the challenge is often not a lack of care, but a lack of confidence, time, structure, or a clear starting point.
A central theme of the book is that dry eye care… begins with noticing the patient in front of us, understanding how symptoms affect their life, and building confidence through small, consistent action
The Dry Eye Imperative responds to this gap by reframing dry eye as a core part of everyday patient care rather than a niche area reserved only for advanced technology or specialised clinics. Drawing on clinical experience, patient stories, and the author’s own lived experience with dry eye, the book explores how patients may minimise symptoms, stop asking for help, or believe that eye drops are the only option available to them.
Rather than presenting dry eye care as something that requires perfection or complexity from the outset, the book focuses on practical, patient-centred steps clinicians can begin using in real-world practice. It introduces the CARE Method – Connect, Assess, Reframe, Empower – as a simple framework for helping optometrists listen differently, look with intention, explain more clearly, and give patients a practical way forward.
The book also highlights the broader professional opportunity for optometry: to move dry eye from the edge of the consultation into routine care. It encourages clinicians to consider how small, repeatable changes – such as asking better questions, explaining findings clearly, giving patients “dry eye homework,” and reviewing progress – can help more patients feel understood and supported.
A central theme of the book is that dry eye care does not begin with having every device or every answer. It begins with noticing the patient in front of us, understanding how symptoms affect their life, and building confidence through small, consistent action.
“I wrote this book because I kept seeing the gap between what patients were living with and what we sometimes addressed in the room,” Dr Zheng said. “Dry eye can sound small from the outside, but for many patients it affects how they work, drive, read, use screens, and get through their day.
“My hope is that this book helps optometrists feel less overwhelmed and more able to begin, because meaningful dry eye care does not have to start with complexity. It starts with listening differently and giving patients a clearer way forward.”
To pre-order, visit: dryeyeimpact.com.au/the-book.
