Is There a Dry Eye in Your House?

For those who suffer from this condition, crying feels like relief

How Your Eyes
Protect Themselves

Every time you blink, glands above and below your eye create a film of tears. This film has three layers:

The oily outer layer helps prevent evaporation. It’s produced by the meibomian glands.

The watery middle layer flushes out dirt. It’s produced by the lacrimal gland.

The clear mucous inner layer keeps the eye moist. It’s produced by the conjunctiva (the membrane inside the eyeball and eyelids).

If you’re one of the more than 10 million Americans who suffer from dry eye, you might welcome the opportunity to shed tears at a touching movie. “Anyone who’s gone outdoors on a dry, windy day after too little sleep knows the feeling of scratchy, burning eyes,” says Kenneth Ryder, M.D. of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. “But for many people, dry eye is a chronic condition that can be very distressing.”

Normal eyes continuously produce tears, which refresh the eye with every blink. “The tear film protecting your eye is surprisingly complex,” says George McGinley, M.D., an ophthalmologist with the hospital. “It consists of three layers, each with a special function.” (See description to the right.)

Dry eye is more common with age, particularly among postmenopausal women. It also can be linked to the skin condition rosacea and certain autoimmune diseases, like rheumatoid arthritis.

Drinking alcohol and taking drugs like antihistamines, antidepressants or beta blockers can decrease tear production. Contact lenses can interrupt the cornea’s nerve signals to the tear glands. Lasik surgery patients also may be troubled by several months of insufficient tears postsurgery. And in dry environments like a heated or air-conditioned room, tears may evaporate faster than they’re produced.

What can you do about dry eye?

Blink more often. Take frequent “blink breaks” when you sit at the computer, watch television or get engrossed in a good book.

Add more moisture to the air with a room humidifier.

Avoid alcohol in dry environments like airplanes, and stay away from tobacco smoke.

Try artificial tears, available over the counter. Eye gels and ointments may help during the night.

While it can be painful, dry eye is rarely a long-term vision threat. In extreme cases, though, it can lead to infection or impair the way your eye refracts light. If home remedies don’t help, see your ophthalmologist.

Want to Know More about what to do when home remedies for dry eye don’t bring relief? Call 610-402-CARE or click here.

Published from Healthy You Magazine, March-April 2008

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