Do you ever get a scratchy, burning, or stinging feeling in your eyes? What you feel could be dry eye. It's a condition where you don't make enough tears or your tears evaporate too quickly and don't lubricate your eyes enough. The cause could be anything from dry air to a medication you take.
Dry eye is so common that millions of Americans deal with it each year. Once you reach age 50 and beyond, you're more likely to have this problem.
Other dry eye disease symptoms include:
- Eye redness
- Sensitivity to light
- A feeling like a foreign object is in your eye
- Watery eyes
- Blurred vision
- Trouble driving at night
Dry eye can be annoying, or worse. If it's severe and you don't treat it, you could develop eye inflammation and damage to tissue on the eyes surface with possibly vision loss. Dry eye treatments like medicated eye drops and eye inserts can boost your tear production, reduce evaporation, and relieve dryness.
While you work with your eye doctor to get the dryness under control, a few tips can relieve dry eye symptoms and make you feel more comfortable.
Take Screen Breaks
Every time you blink, natural tears spread across your eyes. You don't blink as often when you stare at a computer screen, video game, smartphone, or TV for a long time. Take regular breaks to blink or close your eyes and give them a rest. Try the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes, look at something at least 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds.
Use OTC Dry Eye Drops
Eye drops replenish the moisture that your eyes are missing. You have two options:
Artificial tears are available over the counter. You can use them once a day or more often. Don't wait until your eyes are very dry to use artificial tears. They're most effective when you use them consistently to prevent dry eye.
Some brands add preservatives to their dry eye drops. These additives help the drops last longer on store shelves, but they can irritate your eyes or cause infection. If you use drops more than four times a day, choose a preservative-free brand. Non-preservative drops come in single-use vials. They're less likely to cause irritation and infection.
Here's a trick: Store your eye drops in the fridge. The cold will feel soothing to irritated eyes.
Lubricating gels and ointments are thicker. These products coat your eye and last longer than drops. But because gels blur your vision, you may want to apply them before bed.
Avoid Cigarette Smoke
Any kind of smoke is a problem when you've got dry eye, and especially cigarette smoke. The many toxic chemicals released when you light up a cigarette irritate your eyes. Smoking can increase your risk of getting dry eye and could make the condition worse if you already have it.
Use a HEPA Filter
Air pollution damages the tear film that keeps your eyes lubricated and protected. People who live in cities with a lot of pollution, like New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles, are at higher risk for dry eye than those who live in less polluted areas.
A high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter will help keep pollutants out of your home. The filter removes more than 99% of airborne particles, which also include other eye irritants like dust and pollen. Replacing the filters on your central heating and cooling system will also help cut down on indoor pollution.
Wear Sunglasses
Wind is another enemy to anyone with dry eye. As the wind whips across your eyes, it makes your tears evaporate more quickly. Wear a pair of wraparound sunglasses to keep the wind out of your eyes. The UV in sunglasses also protects your eyes from the sun, which is another cause of dry eye.
Take a Break From Your Contacts
Dry eye is one of the most common side effects reported by contact lens wearers and one of the main reasons why people stop using them. When you wear contacts, the lenses rub against the surface of your eye. The resulting friction can damage cells that produce mucus, which is part of the tear film that keeps your eyes moist.
Take out your contacts for a few weeks or months to give your eyes a rest. If you can't part with your lenses, wear contacts specially formulated for dry eye. They're more breathable and will lubricate your eye better than typical lenses.
Turn Off the Air Conditioner
Any blowing air, including a hair dryer, fan, or air conditioner, can dry out your eyes. Only use them when necessary and try to keep your eyes away from the air. If you sleep with a fan or the air conditioner on, wear a mask to protect your eyes.
Turn on a Humidifier
Your eyes might feel extra irritated when the air is dry, especially during the cold winter months. The reason is that dry air evaporates the protective tear film on your eyes faster than moist air.
Turn on a humidifier to add moisture to the air. One study showed that a desktop humidifier reduced eye dryness and made people with dry eye feel more comfortable.
Aim for More Sleep
Try to get at least seven to eight hours of sleep a night. People who don't get enough sleep or who have poor-quality sleep are more likely to have dry eye and more severe symptoms.
Take Care of Your Eyelids
The meibomian glands in your eyelids make oil that lubricates your eyes. Inflammation from an eye condition called blepharitis or other problems with your eyelids can block or reduce the amount of oil these glands make. Doctors call this meibomian gland dysfunction.
Keep your eyelids clean by washing them with mild soap and water and then rinsing. You can also buy a lid scrub at the drugstore to remove debris and clean your eyelids.
Hold a warm wet washcloth to your eyelids for five to 10 minutes when your eyes feel dry. This will help release more oil from the glands.
Take Fish Oil Supplements
Fish oil is rich in the omega-3 fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Some research has suggested that taking a fish oil supplement might reduce dry eye symptoms. But other research didn't find omega-3s any better than placebo (inactive drops) for dry eye.
Despite the mixed study results, omega-3 fatty acids still may be worth trying because they're good for your health in general. The recommended dose for dry eye is 2 to 3 grams of fish oil per day.
While fish oil supplements are generally safe, ask your doctor before you take them. They can cause side effects in some people. For example, fish oil can increase bleeding in people who take blood thinners.
Check With Your Doctor
If you try these methods and they don't work, make an appointment with your eye doctor. A medical condition like Sjögren's syndrome might be causing your dry eye. Sometimes dry eye is too severe to manage with over-the-counter drops. In that case, your doctor can prescribe a dry eye treatment that helps prevent evaporation of tears or do a procedure to keep more tears in your eyes.
Show Sources
Photo Credit: DigitalVision/Getty Images
SOURCES:
American Academy of Ophthalmology: "Choosing the Best Lubricant Eye Drops for Dry Eyes," "Remedies to Reduce Dry Eye Symptoms," "Residents of Most Polluted U.S. Cities – New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami – Have Increased Risk of Dry Eye Syndrome."
Cleveland Clinic: "Meibomian Gland Dysfunction."
Clinical Optometry: "Contact Lens Wear and Dry Eyes: Challenges and Solutions."
Dean McGee Eye Institute: "Can Smoking Affect Your Eyes?"
Harvard Medical School: "The Latest Thinking On Dry Eye Treatments."
Journal of Clinical Medicine: "Impact of Air Pollution and Weather on Dry Eye."
Mayo Clinic: "Dry Eyes," "Eyestrain," "Mayo Clinic Q and A: Fish Oil Supplements and Dry Eyes."
National Eye Institute: "Dry Eye."
Nature and Science of Sleep: "The Association Between Dry Eye and Sleep Disorders: The Evidence and Possible Mechanisms."
New England Journal of Medicine: "N-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation for the Treatment of Dry Eye Disease."
Optometry and Vision Science: "Randomized Trial of Desktop Humidifier for Dry Eye Relief in Computer Users."
Penn Medicine: "Causes of Dry Eye and What You Can Do About It," "Dry Eyes Can Be 'Debilitating.' Here's How to Find Relief."
The Ocular Surface: "Association of Dry Eye Disease and Sun Exposure in Geographically Diverse Adult (≥40 years) populations of India: The SEED (Sun Exposure, Environment and Dry Eye Disease) Study – Second Report of the ICMR-EYE SEE Study Group."
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UT Southwestern Medical Center: "Severe Dry Eye: Advanced Solutions to a Common, Chronic Condition."
Vanderbilt University Medical Center: "Beware the Eyes of March: Vanderbilt Ophthalmologist Offers Tips for Preventing and Treating Dry Eyes During Windy Weather."
