Diary of a Dry eye
My Dry eye Diary
Another day at the office in front of my computer. Every day starts and ends just like the one before, but one thing seems to have changed: this feeling of discomfort in my eyes. I notice a sensitivity to the office lights and the screen. Why do they burn and feel so gritty? I even noticed a change in my vision, sometimes words get quite blurry, is this because of age or something else? Surely, I have enough tears if my eyes water so much. Maybe I am just overworked… I would really like to just keep my eyes closed for a while.
After work on the way to my car, I light a cigarette, and notice how much the wind and the sun bothers my eyes, I wish I had my sunglasses.
When I get home, I realize I never took my medication for Diabetes and high blood pressure. I grab it and decide to take an antihistamine as well, as this hay fever is really getting the best of me.
I take my contact lenses out and feel the need to rub my eyes. Was it always this bad? I quickly wash my face and think, wow the Accutane is making a big difference to my skin. Tonight, I am only making a toasted sandwich as I am too tired to make anything else. Before I go to bed, I decide to put one of those over the counter eye-whitener drops in, something I have been doing for the last couple of weeks. Maybe this time around it might work…
Waking up the next morning, I have severe discomfort in my eyes, I even struggle to open them. It feels like sandpaper. When I finally manage to get them open, I cannot seem to focus, and it takes a good couple of minutes before I can see clearly again. WHAT IS HAPPENING?
How does dry eyes make you feel?
Every person with dry eyes experiences some dry eye symptoms. Some have mild or no symptoms and might not even realize they have dry eyes and others dread every day they need to open their eyes. Dry eyes can make you more light-sensitive, your eyes can burn, scratch, become red, and feel painful. You can wake up with a discharge or it might feel like you have sand in your eyes.
Dry eye can be an uncomfortable and frustrating condition that occurs when the eyes do not produce enough balanced tears, or the tears evaporate too quickly. It can cause blurry vision and watery eyes. Having watery eyes do not mean we have enough tears, but it is rather an indication of an unstable tear layer. If you can relate to any of this, you might be suffering from dry eyes.
What causes dry eyes?
Our eyelids play a very important role in the production of tears and the protection of our ocular surface. If our eyelids do not close completely when we sleep, or if we do not blink regularly or only blink partially, we cannot produce, mix and spread the tear components across our ocular surface. If our lids fail to do their job and we do not have balanced tears, we can end up with inflammation and dry eye symptoms.
Meibomian gland dysfunction is the most common way the eyelids can fail to do their job; it can result from obstruction of the glands by biofilm and poor blinking. If Meibomian glands do not produce meibum and the aqueous component evaporates, the cycle of inflammation and pain begins.
Aqueous deficient dry eye is another aspect of dry eyes and this occur if our lacrimal gland does not produce enough tears or is obstructed.
Inflammation of the eyelids, known as blepharitis, can lead to Meibomian gland dysfunction, but blepharitis can also be caused by dry eye disease.
Sjӧgrens syndrome, systemic conditions like Diabetes, HTN, Thyroid disease, Lupus, Rosacea and Arthritis. Medications including Antihistamines, Decongestants, oral Corticosteroids, oral acne treatment, Antidepressants and Anti-anxiety, beta blockers and diuretics, and HRT’s. All of these can lead to either Meibomian and/or Lacrimal gland dysfunction.
Other contributing factors include smoking, wearing contact lenses and air conditioners or Cataract, Glaucoma, Lasik or cosmetic surgery around your eyes.
Working on, and overusing digital devices, not taking regular breaks and staring at the computer screen, interferes with our normal blinking patterns.
Drinking too much coffee and not enough water, and not taking any essential fatty acids like Omega 3.
What to do about your dry eyes?
Dry eye is multi-factorial and needs effective strategies to improve eye health! Treating your dry eyes is really the only way to make it better. By using the eye-whitener eyedrops you will just make your symptoms worse and it does not deal with the issue at hand. Using specific artificial tears is one of the ways to help reduce your symptoms and a step in the right direction, but in most cases, it cannot be used in isolation. Untreated, dry eyes lead to inflammation and pain, and if it remains untreated you can end up with more severe ocular surface diseases.
A conservative way to improve dry eyes include the following:
• Lid hygiene
• Take Omega 3 in the triglyceride form
• Drink enough water
• Heat masks with lid massage
• Blink exercises (Korb blinking exercises)
• Use artificial tears specific to your need as suggested by your Optometrist or Ophthalmologist
• Eat a healthy diet rich in antioxidants
• Take regular breaks from your digital devices
It is important to realize that if you have dry eyes, the conservative treatment may relieve your symptoms, but in some cases, it does not prevent it from getting worse.
Having a dry eye assessment is important to determine how well your Meibomian and Lacrimal glands function, if you have active inflammation or any other dry eye-related issues that need to be addressed.
The aim of dry eye treatment is to relieve any symptoms and reduce the risk of ocular surface damage. My Optometrist strive to give you the best possible treatment and advice. To book a dry eye assessment just click on our book your appointment link on the home page.
Taking care of your family’s eyes
Marléne Pretorius
