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CityNews Toronto Meredith Bond CityNews Toronto optometrists seeing a surge in dry eye patients FEB 17, 2026 AT 6:55 PM Eye care professionals in Toronto are warning of a dramatic increase of dry eye patients and digital screens may be driving the numbers. "I've been practicing for about 18 years and over the last five to seven years, we've been seeing a massive increase, not just in the amount of dry eye patients that we're seeing, but the age of the patients that we're seeing," said Liberty Village optometrist Dr. Ritesh Patel His youngest dry eye patient, just eight years old. According to Patel, where the condition would have earlier affected about 30 to 40 per cent of the general population and mostly women, he now estimates it's up to 50 to 60 per cent.