A very common condition. Dry eyes can be anything from a nuisance to a serious condition, and the treatment ranges from DIY to prescription medication.
Here’s what you need to know.
Feels like? Your view? Looks like?
Scratchy Hazy Red eyes
Sandy Filmy Watery eyes
Stingy Blurry (temporarily*)
* If your vision is blurry for longer than one hour, get yourself to an Optometrist, GP or Ophthalmologist toot sweet!
Most of the time, it’s the result of your environment and/or actions.
Activity Weather Atmosphere
Computer work Wind Dust
Driving Dryness Dirt
Fine detail work Air conditioning
Weather & atmosphere can dry out your eyes and/or blow particles onto your eye surface.
High focused activities dramatically reduce your blink rate. Blinking is your windscreen wiping function. Less blinking, less cleaning.
Let’s take a deeper look at what’s happening on your eye surface that causes the symptoms we discussed earlier.
Your eye surface has three layers, shown in the picture below.
Blinking keeps the surfaces healthy by lubricating the top layer and keeping it smooth. When blinking reduces, the surface is exposed for longer to particles in the air and it’s not being lubricated as frequently. This causes thinning and breakdown of the top layer. To compensate, your eye may produce excess tears. That’s why watery eyes, are actually a symptom of dry eyes.
You may also experience clogged pores in your upper and lower lids. In the above picture, you can see the pores running to the surface like underground pipes. These can be blocked from dust, dirt, face creams and makeup. The pore is the channel for the oils which lubricate your eye surface. When they are blocked, the oil can’t reach the surface and the eye becomes dry.
I understand. It’s painful and you want it to go away.
The first treatment I recommend is DIY – so you can start today if you’d like.
DIY Treatment for Dry Eyes
Relax, lay down and place a warm wheat pack over your closed eyes for 5 minutes.
Set your timer, 5 minutes of doing nothing will feel like an hour!
Using your index fingers, massage your top eyelids in a downwards direction for 30 seconds. Then, massage your bottom eyelids in an upwards direction for 30 seconds.
Gently dose it, no need for a deep tissue massage here!
Add a small amount of baby shampoo & tea tree oil to a bowl of warm water. Wet a clean washer in the bowl, then gently scrub your eyelids & eyelashes for 1 minute.
No tea tree oil or baby shampoo on hand?
No worries, a warm water wash is better than skipping this step.
If you have some Systane Lid wipes on hand, use those. If not, two clean damp washers will do. Wipe each eye, from the corner near your nose to the corner near your ear. One washer/wipe per eye. Keep wiping until you feel that your eyes are squeaky clean.
Download your own copy of this treatment.
If you follow this process twice a day, morning & night, for 3-4 weeks you will notice a significant improvement in your vision & in the comfort of your eyes.
Still experiencing blurry vision or discomfort? Let’s take a closer look. Book an appointment with your optometrist so they can determine if some steroid drops will be able to cut through the lingering inflammatory component commonly associated with dry eyes.
Remember prevention is the best medicine. So, if you work in dusty environments or you’re simply prone to dry eyes, I recommend you continue this treatment daily once your symptoms are under control. Treat it like brushing your teeth – just something you do every day.
Then you’ll be seeing clearly and comfortably.
If you have any questions, I’d love to hear from you. Click here to send me a message.
Adam Maher
Optometrist
The Eye Place
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