Dry eyes
When your tears cannot provide adequate lubrication, dry eye happens. This tear fluctuation leads to inflammation and injury to the eye’s surface.
Dry eyes feel discomfiting. If you hold dry eyes, your eyes may prick or burn.
Signs indicating dry eyes
The following signs and symptoms typically include both eyes:
- An itch, sting, or burning sensation in your eyes
- Eyestringy mucus in or around
- Reactivity to light
- A reddened eye
- A feeling of something is in your eyes
- Using contact lenses is difficult
- Driving at night can be challenging.
- The body’s reaction to dry eyes’ irritability is watery eyes.
- Vision haze or eye tiredness
What causes dry eyes
If your eye fails to produce enough tears or if they dry up soon, you may have dry eyes.
Having dry eyes could be more likely if:
- You are over 50 years old
- You put contact lenses
- You spend a lot of time without taking breaks staring at computer screens
- You spend time in hot or air-conditioned spaces
- You are in a cold, dry, windy, or dusty environment
- you use tobacco or alcohol
- You use specific medications (for example, some antidepressants or blood pressure medicines)
- You suffer from an illness like lupus, sjögren’s syndrome, or blepharitis
How to manage dry eyes on your own
- Maintain daily eyelid hygiene
- Whenever utilizing a computer screen, take breaks to rest your eyes
- Make sure that the computer screen is at or slightly below eye level
- If the air is getting too dry, use a humidifier
- If you were wearing contact lenses, remove them and put on glasses so your eyes can rest
When to see a doctor
- It hurts and is red in your eye
- You notice any visual changes, such as wavy lines, flashing, or loss of vision
- Looking at light hurts
- If the appearance of your eyelids has changed in any way
- Despite using home remedies for a few weeks, you still have dry eyes
Reviewed by – Dr. Priyanka, MBBS MD Microbiology
Page last reviewed: 16 JULY 2022