Dry Eye Treatment: Ease Stinging in Your Eyes
If your eyes sting, burn, or feel gritty throughout the day, it may be due to dry eye disease or syndrome. Dry eye disease affects adults and children over time. Without treatment, dry eye disease can make your eyes sting, burn, and feel gritty. Learn more about dry eye disease and how to ease the stinging in your eyes below.
What's Dry Eye Disease?
Most people will experience dry eyes at some point in their lives. Wind, dust, and even smoke can make the surface of the eye feel dry. If you moisten the surface of your eyes with a lubricant, the dryness will subside or go away. However, people who develop a stinging, burning, or gritty feeling in their eyes can't ease their symptoms with a lubricant. The individuals often suffer from dry eye disease.
Dry eye disease, also known as dry eye syndrome or simply dry eye, generally occurs when your eyes don't or can't make enough tears to moisten the surface of your eyes. Tears contain nutrients and natural moisturizers that protect your eyes from foreign objects. If you don't make enough tears during the day, it can lead to dryness of the eye.
The disease triggers a number of symptoms that make the surface of your eyes feel itchy, gritty, and irritated. The disease can also make your eyes blur, sting, water, and turn red. Over-the-counter eye treatments may not lubricate the surface of your eyes completely. The treatments may also fail to stimulate the tear ducts in your eyes.
If you need everlasting treatment for your dry eye condition, speak to an optometrist now.
What's the Treatment for Dry Eye Disease?
An optometrist, or specialty eye doctor, will need to uncover the cause of your dry eye disease before they treat you. Several things can keep your tear ducts from making tears, including arthritis, diabetes, and other health conditions. The conditions can affect the way your eyes close and blink. Clogged tear ducts and infection may also lead to dry eyes.
If a medical condition inadvertently caused your eye condition, an optometrist will consult your primary physician during your dry eye treatment. Your physician may need to adjust your medications or make changes in your overall treatment to help control your dry eye problem.
If clogged tear ducts are behind your dry eyes, you may need to undergo surgery to unplug them. The surgery allows an eye doctor to insert special tubes in your tear ducts that help them drain fluid during the day.
Learn more about dry eye disease and how to treat it by consulting an optometrist today.
