Dry eye syndrome: 7 causes and treatments

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Dry eyes threaten those who spend a lot of time in front of a computer or smartphone screen - that is, almost all of us.

Modern ophthalmologists have identified Computer Vision Syndrome who most often suffers from dry eye syndrome. These are those who spend a lot of time in front of the screens of gadgets.

Perhaps many are not even aware of their diagnosis. We will show you the symptoms:

• a feeling of sand and dust in the eyes;
• carving;
• burning;
• unreasonable lacrimation;
• I often want to rub my eyes.

Doctors check dry eye in another way - Schirmer's test. This is a test that shows the amount of tears. Special pieces of paper are pushed under the eyelids to absorb a tear. It is painless, takes a minute and gives an accurate result.

Before discussing directly the causes of dry eye, let's figure out how it should be normal. Fully moisturized - a tear is responsible for this, which constantly washes the eye. And here there is an important nuance - the quality of the tear.

Yes, and tears are of high quality, but there are not very good ones. There are two components in a tear: water and fat (lipid). The balance of these components is a quality tear. If the balance is imbalanced, dry eyes occur.

Now let's look at the reasons for this condition.

What Causes Dry Eye Syndrome

1. Screens of gadgets

A screen means anything - a computer, tablet or phone. If you look at any screen for too long, the eye starts to dry. The fact is that bright light makes us focus and peer more closely. We are too involved and our eyes simply "forget" to blink. The fact is that blinking is an unconditioned reflex, we don't think about it. And this reflex slows down when our attention is overly focused on something.

2. Dry air

Dry air is everywhere. In the office and at home, batteries work in winter, and an air conditioner in summer. And on the street: just remember what it is like to walk in the heat - it dries up in the throat, not so much in the eyes.

Dry air dries out the tear, which should wash the eye. And it's even more dangerous than a computer screen.

Few people know that our cornea (this is the transparent outer shell of the eye) does not have blood vessels, that is, it feeds on tears. For example, a tear is supposed to deliver oxygen to her. And how will she do this if she dries up under the influence of dry air? The less oxygen and nutrients the cornea receives, the worse its condition.

3. Hormones

This reason is purely feminine. During menopause, which can begin at a fairly early age, the amount of estrogen in a woman's body decreases. These hormones affect fat metabolism. They also reduce the amount of the fatty component of the tear. This means that the consistency of the tear changes, it becomes more liquid, it cannot stay on the eye. In such cases, women may experience unreasonable lacrimation.

4. Contact lenses

Even if you remember to take off your lenses at night, if you change them every day and are sure of the sterility of your containers, you still cannot avoid dry eyes.

Long-term lens wear = dry eye syndrome. This is an axiom. Lenses break the layers of the tear, degrade its quality and dry out the eye.

Ideally, you should not wear your lenses every day, but only when necessary. Of course, for a person with poor eyesight, this is simply impossible. Replace lenses with glasses? Again, this is inconvenient for many.

Therefore, with poor vision, there are two ways out:

• Ask your doctor to prescribe an artificial tear and continually drip it into your eyes.
• Make laser vision correction, if you have no contraindications, and forget about lenses. However, the preparation for the operation must go through correctly - see the next paragraph.

5. Laser vision correction

Dry eye syndrome often worsens after laser vision correction. But this happens if the preparation for the correction was carried out incorrectly. Before the operation, the aforementioned Schirmer test, a dry eye test, should be done. And if necessary, treat this syndrome, but not with drops, but with more effective laser stimulation. If this technology is followed, then laser correction will take place without problems.

6. Medicines

Some medications cause dry eyes. These are usually antidepressants and oral contraceptives. The drugs affect the hormonal balance, which, in turn, affects the fatty component of the tear. The tear film loses its stability and the eye dries up. In parallel with taking these drugs, it is better to use an artificial tear.

7. Chronic diseases: diabetes, conjunctivitis, blepharitis

Diabetesdry eyes, in addition to many other unpleasant consequences. But with the right compensatory therapy, this problem does not arise.

When treating conjunctivitisuse antibiotics that interfere with the quality of the tear. Therefore, after treatment of this disease, it is imperative to be treated for dry eye syndrome.

Blepharitis- chronic inflammation of the eyelids, which also disrupts the quality of the tear. Until it is cured, dry eyes will not go away.

How to treat dry eye syndrome

• Apply drops with artificial tears. However, the independent choice of drops, although it will not bring harm, but also benefit too: now there are drops with a different composition, so the doctor should choose the right ones for you.
• Get laser treatment. Modern ophthalmologists treat dry eye syndrome not only with drops. Circulatory laser stimulation of the lacrimal glands is a type of physical therapy that improves the production and composition of tears. Moreover, unlike drops, one course of treatment is enough for at least six months.
• Treat comorbidities leading to dry eye syndrome.
• Buy a humidifier.
• Set an alarm every 10 minutes when working at a computer. This will be a signal that it is time to blink properly.
• For those who wear contact lenses - to do laser vision correction, if there are no contraindications.

And finally, let me remind you: anti-glare glasses for working at a computer, glasses with holes for relaxation are all a successful marketing ploy. They are absolutely useless to the eyes.