Tears not only roll down from your eyes when you cry but they have an extremely important purpose to serve. They are necessary and are of paramount importance for maintaining health of our eyes. They lubricate and nourish our eyes, reduce risks of eye infection and provide clear vision. Some people have eyes that suffer from poor or inadequate production of tears, and they suffer from poor eyesight, and irritation in eyes.
Dry Eye Syndrome or DES, clutches a big percentage of Americans. The severity of the problem could be estimated from the fact according to which about 7.8 per cent of the women and 4.7 per cent of the men who are older than 50 comes into the periphery of this syndrome.
According to the study published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology, DES is one of the most common reasons people seek eye care for. Revealing how severely this syndrome could affect human lives Dr. Debra A. Schaumberg of the Schepens Eye Research at Harvard Medical School sates:
“The present study suggests that DES can have a significant impact on visual function that can diminish a person’s quality of everyday living. More specifically, the present study shows that crucial daily activities of modern living such as reading, computer use, professional work, driving and TV watching are all negatively impacted by DES.”
This revelation is really quite appalling because DES could result in shortage of tears, damage to the eye surface, dryness and fluctuating visual disturbances, which could affect our day-to-day life quite badly.
Guide to dry eye syndrome and how you can deal with it
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What causes dry eyes
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6 Tips for battling Dry Eye Syndrome
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Use humidifier
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Blink your eyes
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Stay hydrated
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Keep artificial tears handy
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Omega-3 fatty acid supplement
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Wear protective lenses
What causes dry eyes
When your eyes start suffering a lack of lubrication on their surface, they become dry. Burning sensation in the eyes, scratchiness, extreme irritation as you feel there is something stuck in your eye, and red eyes are some symptoms of dry eye syndrome. Many factors are responsible such as age. People at 65 start experiencing the dry eye condition.
Lack of vitamins in body and some physical conditions turn eyes dry as well. Gender also has a major role to play, as women are more prone to this condition. Menopause, pregnancy, other hormonal changes and use of contraceptives dries up tears. It found that 62 percent of menopausal and perimenopausal women report dry eye symptoms. Changing hormone levels are the cause of the dry eyes symptoms. Wearing contact lenses for long and eye surgeries also lead to dryness in eyes. Other factors include exposure to polluted environments, wind, and sunshine.
6 Tips for battling Dry Eye Syndrome
If gets severe, the dry eye condition becomes a hard condition to deal with. You can bring into use the following tips and practices to relieve its symptoms:
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Use humidifier
Lack of moisture in the air is one of the reasons responsible for during up your eyes. If you feel the air inside your home is dry, as it usually happens when you use heating devices to heat up your home in winters, they suck moisture out of the air. Use a humidifier that helps maintain moisture in air, thus preventing it from drying up your eyes.
2. Blink your eyes
If you work on a computer for long time, watch television a lot, or you are in the habit of reading for long hours altogether, you must blink. Sufficient blinking of eyes is very important as it enhances the evaporation in the eyes. You are supposed to do the full blink, as in let your upper eyelid contact the lower lid that lets a tear film spread over the entire cornea.
3. Stay hydrated
The tear formation in your eyes has a direct relation with the level of your body hydration. The more hydrated you are, the better is the tear formation and you would not face the dry eye problem.
4. Keep artificial tears handy
Artificial tears you can get from the market without any prescription, so get the hang of the one that suits you. Reach out for preservative free brands and use it once every two hours. You can use lubricating gels for eyes as well, but you can use them only before sleep, as they tend to blur vision for some time.
5. Omega-3 fatty acid supplement
If you include intake of Omega-3 fatty acid in your diet, you can experience relief from the annoying symptoms of dry eye syndrome. You should start intake of fish such as salmon, sardine and flaxseeds, as they are rich in Omega-3 fatty acid. Else, you can take its supplements also.
6. Wear protective lenses
You need to protect your eyes from the harmful and harsh sunrays, wind that could bring dirt and debris along with it and harm your eyes. Wear protective lenses that could prevent all these elements from harming your eyes and drying them up.
Dry Eye Syndrome is a condition when your eye starts producing poor quality or insufficient tears. The eye dries up, vision impairs, risk of eye infections increases, and one feels extreme irritation in the eyes.
