Eye Health: Experiencing Dry Eyes? Here's Why And How To Fix It

What are dry eyes?

When your tears are unable to adequately lubricate your eyes, dry eye disease, a common illness, develops. There are various reasons why tears may be insufficient and unsteady. For instance, dry eyes may develop if your tear production is inadequate or of low quality. The instability of the tears causes inflammation and surface damage to the eye.

Dry eyes can be irritating. Your eyes may hurt or burn if you have dry eyes. In some circumstances, such as in an air-conditioned room, while riding a bicycle, or after staring at a computer screen for a while, you could suffer dry eyes.

You could feel better at ease after receiving dry eye treatments. Changes in lifestyle and eye drops are examples of these therapies. To manage the symptoms of dry eyes, you'll probably need to continue doing these steps permanently.

Dry eyes caused by either inadequate tears or decreased tear production are referred to as dry eye syndrome. The signs consist of:

Feeling something unpleasant, dry, and scratchy in both of your eyes.

• Redness
• Mucus in or around your eyes
• Sensitivity to light
• Drained eyes
• Fuzzy vision

Dry eyes may be caused by a variety of things. These consist of:

• Ageing
• Certain medicines
• Specific health issues
• External variables
• Contacts
• Allergies

It may be confusing when someone with dry eyes has excessive tears pouring down their cheeks. When the eye does not receive adequate lubricant, this occurs. Through the neurological system, the eye communicates a need for more lubricant. Emergency tears start to flood the eye in reaction.

Tears in this case are mostly composed of water and lack the moisturising properties and rich composition of typical tears. Although they will cleanse debris from the eye, they will not adequately coat the eye surface. The eye also needs to renew and recover itself, which necessitates therapy, because these emergency tears frequently come too late.

How to fix it?

1. Talk to a doctor

Consult an optometrist or ophthalmologist about your treatment choices (eye doctor). Sometimes another illness or condition, such as rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus, is what causes dry eye. If this is the case, treating systemic illness is also necessary to treat dry eyes.

2. Reduce screen time

Once the doctor has prescribed the medication, you might be required to follow the course of medication as directed. Besides the medication, make sure to limit your usage of screens. Excessive use of screens can lower the number of blinks on average which may cause or worsen dry eyes.

3. Surgery

To keep tears near the eye, it may be necessary to permanently restrict the ducts that drain tears into the nose. On an outpatient basis, local anaesthetic is used for this. Before permanent punctual occlusion, cyclosporine A drops should always be tested for at least 6 months to ensure that the patient won't experience epiphora I.e. tears flowing down the face when the dry eye inflammation is cured and the glands produce more tears.

4. Home-remedies

Increasing humidity in your home could improve dry eye symptoms. Along with this, consuming omega-3 fatty acids could also improve your symptoms. You must also ensure you always wear sunglasses when outdoors as the sun and wind could worsen the symptoms.

Keep these things in mind in case you think you are suffering from dry eyes.

Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for a qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.