If you experience dry, itchy, burning eyes, redness or pain, a gritty feeling of something in your eyes or even excessive tearing, blurred vision, eye fatigue or discomfort wearing your contact lenses, the issues may be many including allergies, reaction to an irritant or medications. But it can also be a symptom of dry eye syndrome.
What is Dry Eye Syndrome?
The tear which is formed in your eyes is a natural lubricant which is needed in large quantities to keep the eyes comfortable, clean and clear. This tear is important in the way that it washes away dirt and dust, and clears bacteria which can cause infection and eye damage. Dry Eye Sydrome is one such problem where there is not any lubrication of the eye even after tears are formed because there isn’t enough tears being formed to help the eye function or because there is low quality of eye tears which are formed because they are too weak and evaporate quickly. This causes the common uncomfortable symptoms including:
- Itching
- Burning
- Redness
- Soreness or pain
- Dryness
- Light sensitivity
- Eye fatigue
- Blurred vision
- Grittiness
- Vision seems to change when blinking
Factors Contributing to Dry Eye Syndrome
There can be a number of factors which play a role in you suffering from Dry Eye Syndrome. While some of them are inherent, there are some environmental factors that can be changed to reduce your risk or symptoms.
There are:
- Ageing: While the symptoms of Dry Eyes can occur at any age, they are common in patients over the age of 50.
- Menopause: Post-menopausal women are at greater risk of dry eyes than men of the same age.
- Digital Screen use: When you spend a major portion of your day looking at a computer screen, or a smartphone your eyes are focused, and they tend to blink at a lower rate causing the tear formation to evaporate and increasing dryness, blurriness and discomfort. Remember to regularly take a break, look away from the screen and blink several times.
- Contact lenses: Dry eyes is a common effect of contact lens wear. Several manufacturers have started offering lenses that hold more moisture to combat this common issue.