Attention: If you are Dr. Shahreena Rahman’s patient from East Elgin Optometry in Aylmer, your records and patient files are being transferred to our office for continuity of care and access.
We are accepting new patients and families of all ages, and would be happy to welcome you to our office. As we will have access to your previous eye exam history, we can continue offering you and your family the great comprehensive eye care you are used to.
If you would like to book an appointment, please call, email, or visit our office. We will also be contacting all of Dr. Rahman’s patients as they become due for an exam so rest assured we will get back to you if you choose to wait to hear from us.
*We are unable to work with/access warranty claims for glasses and lenses purchased from Dr.
Rahman's office*
The University of Waterloo Optometry Program has set up a donation and memorial page to honour Dr. Rahman. If you would like to contribute to their fund for the Waterloo Eye Institute on behalf of Dr. Rahman, please see the following link:
In Memory of Dr. Shahreena Rahman.
Attention:Patients from Dr. Shahreena Rahman and East Elgin Optometry, click here for info.
Dry, Itchy, or Irritated Eyes? It Could Be Dry Eye Syndrome or
Blepharitis
Dry, itchy, or irritated eyes might seem like a small problem, but they can be signs of an
eye condition that needs professional care. Dry Eye Syndrome and Blepharitis are two of the
most common culprits, often occurring together and creating a cycle of discomfort and
inflammation.
If you experience burning, stinging, or crusty eyelids, you’re not alone. The good news? Both
conditions are manageable with the right diagnosis, Blepharitis treatment, or dry eye
management plan.
Keep reading to learn about Dry Eye Syndrome and Blepharitis, their symptoms, causes, and the
most effective ways to treat and relieve them.
What Is Dry Eye Syndrome?
Dry Eye Syndrome occurs when your eyes don't produce enough tears—or when the tears you do
produce lack the right balance of oil, water, and mucus to properly lubricate the eye.
Common Symptoms of Dry Eye Syndrome
Stinging, burning, or scratchy sensation
Stringy mucus in or around the eyes
Sensitivity to light
Redness and irritation
Difficulty wearing contact lenses
Watery eyes (a reflex response to dryness)
Blurred vision or eye fatigue
What Causes Dry Eye Syndrome?
Understanding the causes of Dry Eye Syndrome is essential to finding lasting relief. Causes
can vary, but the most common include:
Aging: Tear production naturally decreases with age, especially after
50.
Hormonal changes: Shifts during menopause can reduce tear production
and alter tear composition.
Autoimmune conditions like Sjögren's syndrome: This condition attacks
moisture-producing glands, including those that make tears.
Certain medications: Several commonly used medications can interfere
with normal tear production, including antihistamines, antidepressants, decongestants,
and oral contraceptives.
Contact lens wear: Prolonged use can destabilize the tear film and lead
to dryness.
Environmental factors: Wind, air conditioning, heating, and prolonged
screen use can all increase tear evaporation.
Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD): Responsible for up to 86% of Dry Eye
Syndrome cases, MGD occurs when tiny oil glands along the eyelid margins become blocked,
causing tears to evaporate too quickly and eyes to feel dry or irritated.
What Is Blepharitis?
Blepharitis is a chronic inflammation of the eyelids, usually where the eyelashes grow.
It can affect people of all ages and is often linked to other skin or eye
conditions.
Common Symptoms of Blepharitis:
Watery or red eyes
Gritty, burning, or stinging sensation
Itchy eyelids
Greasy or flaky eyelid skin
Crusted eyelashes upon waking
Swollen, red eyelid margins
What Causes Blepharitis?
Blepharitis can have several overlapping causes. Identifying the source is key to
effective, long-term Blepharitis treatment. Common causes include:
Bacterial overgrowth: Naturally occurring bacteria such as
Staphylococcus can multiply, forming biofilms that irritate and inflame the eyelids.
Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD): Blocked oil glands can cause
both Dry Eye Syndrome and Blepharitis by disrupting tear quality and triggering
inflammation.
Skin conditions: Rosacea, seborrheic dermatitis, and eczema can
affect the eyelids and lead to flaking and swelling.
Poor eyelid hygiene or cosmetic buildup: Failing to clean the
eyelid area, especially with regular makeup or contact lens use, can cause oil,
debris, and bacteria to accumulate.
The Link Between Dry Eye, Blepharitis, and MGD
Dry Eye Syndrome, Blepharitis, and Meibomian Gland Dysfunction are closely related and often appear together.
The Vicious Cycle:
Blepharitis causes inflammation that blocks the meibomian glands.
Blocked glands (MGD) disrupt the tear film’s oil layer.
Without a stable oil layer, tears evaporate quickly—causing Dry Eye Syndrome.
Dry eyes lead to irritation and rubbing, which worsens Blepharitis.
If left untreated, this cycle can lead to styes, chalazia, and even corneal damage. Treating one condition alone often fails—a comprehensive approach is key.
At Optometrists on Broadway, we treat all three conditions holistically for lasting relief.
Dry Eye & Blepharitis Diagnosis
Getting the right diagnosis is essential for effective treatment.
What to Expect During an Eye Exam:
A full evaluation of your eye health
Assessment of tear production and quality
Examination of eyelid margins and gland function
Advanced imaging to detect inflammation or blockages
These tests help your optometrist distinguish between Dry Eye Syndrome, Blepharitis, and MGD, and propose a precise treatment plan.
Dry Eye & Blepharitis Treatment Options
Every case is unique. Your optometrist will tailor a Blepharitis treatment or dry eye management plan based on your symptoms and specific needs.
In-Office Treatments
These in-office options are among the most effective Blepharitis treatments available:
Professional eyelid cleaning: Uses gentle, specialized equipment to remove bacteria, biofilm, and debris from eyelid margins. Most patients find the treatment comfortable and it typically takes around 10 minutes.
Meibomian gland expression: After applying heat (via warm compresses or a heated mask) to soften blocked oils, your optometrist will clear the glands manually, restoring healthy oil flow and tear film stability.
At-Home Care
To make your in-office treatments even more effective, try the following at home:
Apply warm compresses to help loosen oil blockages and improve gland function.
Use daily eyelid scrubs to help remove debris and bacteria.
Use artificial tears and lubricating ointments to maintain moisture and relieve irritation (look for preservative-free drops like I-Drop Pur).
Take Omega-3 supplements to support meibomian gland health.
Apply nighttime relief masks to ease morning discomfort, particularly if you have Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD).
Tips for Blepharitis Prevention and Daily Eye Comfort
Managing Blepharitis requires daily care, but small habits can make a big difference:
Here are some practical tips:
Gently clean eyelids daily to remove oil, debris, and bacteria.
Use lid and lash wipes like Blephaclean or I-Lid N’ Lash to keep them clean.
Apply eyelid creams such as Blephagel Duo to reduce inflammation.
Take breaks from screens—follow the 20-20-20 rule (every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds).
Use a humidifier to add moisture to the air, which can help reduce dryness from heating or air-conditioning.
Wear sunglasses outdoors to protect eyes from wind, dust, and UV rays.
Available Blepharitis Treatments at Optometrists on Broadway
If you're struggling with Dry Eye Syndrome or Blepharitis, help is available here in Tillsonburg.
At Optometrists on Broadway, we don’t just treat symptoms—we find and address the root cause. Our clinic offers advanced diagnostics for Dry Eye, Blepharitis, and MGD, along with access to high-quality, specialized eye care products, including:
Together, our in-clinic treatments and at-home care products will help you enjoy comfortable eyes again.
Schedule Your Consultation Today
You don’t have to live with gritty, burning eyes. Let our experienced team at Optometrists on Broadway help you find lasting relief from Dry Eye Syndrome and Blepharitis. Schedule a comprehensive eye exam today.
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Optometrists On Broadway draws the attention of the user to the fact that all communication transmitted through this
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The confidentiality and integrity of the information circulating over the internet cannot be ensured.
Optometrists On Broadway cannot accept responsibility in the case that data contained on this site is intercepted.
Optometrists On Broadway site uses cookies. These cookies are small text files saved on the hard disk of a user's
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any way, identify the user. All data is completely anonymous and compiled solely for the purpose of improving
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Responsible for the protection of personal information : Dr Matthew
Michniewicz
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Optometrists On Broadway makes no representations that the content of this site is free of infections, viruses, worms,
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Under no circumstances shall Optometrists On Broadway be held responsible for transmission errors of any sort, such as
loss of or damage to data, or changes of any type whatsoever, including direct or indirect damage resulting from
the use of the services provided on this site.
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This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the province of Ontario.
Any dispute arising of this Agreement shall be brought before the court in the judicial district of
Optometrists On Broadway's head office. Address: 138 Broadway
Tillsonburg, ON
N4G 3P8; Tel: 519 842-5131.
PUBLISHING FIRM
Optometrists On Broadway
138 Broadway
Tillsonburg, ON
N4G 3P8 Tel: 519 842-5131
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Thank you for visiting optomsonbroadway.com (the “Website”), provided to you by Optometrists On Broadway (“We”). We
respect the privacy of every individual who visits the Website and are sensitive to privacy
issues on the Internet. We believe it is important that you know how we deal with information
received about you.
This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect
the personal information of our customers and Website users ("you"), describes the types of
information we may collect from you or that you may provide to us, and our practices for
collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information. The Website is for
general audiences and is not specifically targeted to or intended for use by children.
We will only use your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy unless
otherwise required by applicable law. We take steps to ensure that the personal information that
we collect about you is adequate, relevant, not excessive, and used for limited purposes.
Privacy laws in Canada generally define "Personal Information" as any information about an
identifiable individual, which includes information that can be used on its own or with other
information to identify, contact, or locate a single person.
By accessing or using the Website, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy
Policy, and you are consenting to our processing of your information as set out in this Privacy
Policy. We may modify or update this Privacy Policy from time to time; if we change this Privacy
Policy in a manner that materially impacts your privacy rights, we will provide a notice to you.
Your continued use of the Website or our services after any modification to this Privacy Policy
will constitute your acceptance of such modification. However, when required by law, we will
confirm your consent to the revised Privacy Policy terms. This Privacy Policy is incorporated
into and considered a part of the Website Terms and Conditions of Use, located here
What information we collect
We collect and use several types of information from and about you, including:
Personal Information, that we can reasonably use to directly or indirectly
identify you, such as your full name, email address, telephone number and any other
identifier we may use to contact you online or offline.
Non-personal information is information that does not directly or
indirectly reveal your identity or directly relate to an identified individual, such as
demographic information, or statistical or aggregated information. Statistical or aggregated
data does not directly identify a specific person, but we may derive non-personal
statistical or aggregated data from Personal Information. For example, we may aggregate
Personal Information to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific Website
feature.
How we collect the information
Information You Provide to Us
The information we collect directly from you may include:
Communicating with us: When you contact us about our services or to make other inquiries, we collect the content of those
communications, as well as your full name, email, phone number, and any additional information that allows us to answer your request.
Information We Collect While You Interact With Us Through Cookies and Other Automatic Data
Collection Technologies
We use your information, including your Personal Information, to manage our business and to
maintain and develop commercial relationships with you. We will collect, use, and disclose such
information only to the extent that is necessary for those purposes.
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal
Information:
To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us.
To fulfill the purposes for which you provided the information or that were described when
it was collected, or any other purpose for which you provide it.
To improve the Website, products or services, marketing, or customer relationships and
experiences.
To allow you to participate in interactive features, social media, or similar features on
the Website.
To measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you and others,
and to deliver relevant advertising to you.
In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
For any other purpose with your consent.
Partnership with Microsoft Clarity and Microsoft Advertising
We may partner with Microsoft Clarity and Microsoft Advertising to capture how you use and interact with our website through behavioral metrics, heatmaps, and session replay to improve and market our products/services. Website usage data is captured using first and third-party cookies and other tracking technologies to determine the popularity of products/services and online activity. Additionally, we use this information for site optimization, fraud/security purposes, and advertising. For more information about how Microsoft collects and uses your data, visit the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
How we share your information
We will not rent or sell your information to third parties without your consent. We only share
your data as specifically provided in this Privacy Policy.
Other Disclosures
In addition to any disclosure you may have consented to or permitted under the terms of this
Privacy Policy, we may transfer your data, including Personal Information to third parties in
the following limited circumstances:
information you expressly consent to be shared;
when relating to anonymized information (individuals cannot be identified by it);
when you decide to make the information indexable by search engines, to share or to
distribute the information to people or otherwise to make it available to the public;
to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request
within or outside your country of residence when we have a good faith belief that the law
requires it;
to enforce this Privacy Policy, the Terms, or an agreement, including investigation of
potential violations thereof;
to detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, or protect the
operations or you;
to protect our rights, property or safety as well as yours, the public, or others;
in connection with an acquisition, merger, change in control, debt financing,
reorganization, sales of assets, bankruptcy or other change of our corporate structure or
status; or
as necessary in connection with the performance of requested services or solutions, or as
otherwise appropriate in connection with a legitimate need.
How we store and secure your information
Information Security
We are committed to protecting the confidentiality, integrity, availability and privacy of your Personal Information. We have put appropriate physical, technological and procedural security measures in place designed to help prevent your Personal Information from being lost, used, modified or accessed in an unauthorized way, or improperly disclosed. Examples of such measures include restricted access to offices, training of personnel, using passwords and well-defined internal policies and practices. We also use encryption technology and Secure Socket Layers ("SSL") in all areas of the Website where your personal account information is required.
In addition, we limit access to your Personal Information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will be required to process your Personal Information only on our instructions and they are subject to an obligation of confidentiality. Our service providers are required to maintain adequate security protections in place designed to help safeguard your Personal Information and are not permitted to use it for any purpose other than fulfilling services to us.
If you have any questions about securing your personal data, please contact us in accordance with the “How to Contact Us” section below.
Information Retention
We will retain your Personal Information for as long as it is needed:
to provide the products and services that you have requested;
to communicate with you about a purchase or a request you have made to us;
to manage your choices and rights you have exercised pursuant to this Privacy Policy;
to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations and to demonstrate compliance,
to resolve disputes and to enforce our rights and agreements.
We may retain non-personal information that has been sufficiently aggregated or anonymized for a longer period.
Once the retention period is over, we will dispose of your Personal Information as provided for in our internal data retention and disposal policy.
Where We Store Information
We use facilities operated by "Amazon Web Services" and located in Canada as our information storage and processing infrastructure. Our service providers can also, from time to time, store your Personal Information in accordance with purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy.
How to contact us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, you can contact us at 519 842-5131.
Cookie Policy – optomsonbroadway.com
This Cookie Policy explains what cookies are and how we use them. You should read this Policy to
understand what type of cookies we use, the information we collect from the cookies, and how
that
information is managed. For further information on how we handle, store and keep your personal
data
secure, see our Term of use.
What are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files which are stored on the browser or hard drive of your computer or
mobile
device when you visit a webpage or application. A “session cookie” stores temporary information
that
is deleted when you close your web browser or turn off your computer or device. A “persistent
cookie” enables the site to recognize when you return to it and remains stored on your computer
until you delete it. Cookies work to make your experience browsing our site as smooth as
possible by
remembering your preferences the next time you visit the site.
What types of cookies do we use?
There are four variety of cookies which operate on our website:
Essential cookies allow you to be able to experience the full functionality
of
our site. Without these cookies, some parts of our site may not work as they
should.
Performance cookies tell us how you use our site and help us to improve it.
For
example, these cookies count the number of visitors to our website and see how visitors move
around when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our site works, for example,
by
ensuring that users find what they are looking for easily. The information collected by
these
cookies is anonymous.
Google Analytics is a performance cookie used to track visits to
our
website and user behaviour on site. The data collected is anonymous and is used for
benchmarking purposes to monitor the performance of our site and to measure user
engagement on our site.
Social media cookies from social media sites such as
Facebook, Instagram, and
Pinterest
are used to enable social media buttons on our site to work. Social media buttons
allow
you to share content and interact with your social network. These social media
platform
may set their own cookies on your device. We do not control the settings of these
cookies so we suggest you check the social media website for more information about
their cookies and how to manage them. Our website will not collect or store any
personally identifiable information from the user. To find out how you can opt out
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Customizer cookies allow our site to remember your preferences, helping to
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Our customizer cookie, which helps us to manage the technology and cookies which are
used across our site.
Targeting/advertising cookies are set by third party advertising partners
through our digital touchpoints to build profiles based on your interests. These cookies
enable
us to send you relevant content and advertising based on your preferences and track the
effectiveness of our ad campaigns.
Below are several advertising and targeting cookies that are used to identify
different
browsers and devices. They collect data anonymously for the purposes of ad
selection,
reporting, behavioural targeting, and cross-device advertising (i.e. associating
multiple devices together). In some instances, we may provide a hashed version of
your
email address or other information to the platform provider for such proposes. More
information can be found at the following links.
How do you change cookie preferences or block cookies?
Within your browser, you can choose whether you wish to accept cookies or not. Different browsers
make different controls available to you. Generally, your browser will offer you the choice to
accept, refuse or delete cookies at all times, or those from providers that website owners use
i.e.
third party cookies, or those from specific websites. Each browser’s website should contain
instructions on how you can do this.
If you block cookies on our website, you may be unable to access certain areas of our website and
certain functions and pages will not work in the usual way.
Changes to the Cookie Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. If we make significant changes we will let you know
but
please regularly check this Policy to ensure you are aware of the most updated version.
This Cookie Policy was last updated on February 10, 2025.
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