Dry eye can mean different things for different people, although it is never pleasant. Regardless of the particular symptoms you experience, chronic dry eyes are uncomfortable.
Dry eye syndrome is a condition that affects millions of people every year, and many people don’t even know they have it. Keep reading to learn how you can end your dry eyes once and for all!
What are the Symptoms of Dry Eye?
Depending on how severe your dry eye is, you could experience any number of the following symptoms:
- Itchiness
- Grittiness
- Mucus Discharge
- Redness
- Swelling
- Watery eyes
- Blurry Vision
- Eye Fatigue
- Pain
Dealing with these symptoms all the time can feel like a constant uphill battle. But, you don’t have to wait for a doctor to fix your dry eyes for good. There are ways you can take control today!
Use Eye Drops For Fast Relief
To handle dry eye symptoms as they arise, use artificial tears to rehydrate and lubricate your eyes. Rubbing your eyes may be tempting, but it can actually make it much worse and damage your eyes.
While eye drops won’t solve the root cause of the issue, they will safely provide relief from your dry eye symptoms. There are different kinds of eye drops that do various things.
For fast-acting relief that won’t leave your vision blurry, use thinner eye drops. Thicker eye drops with a high viscosity create temporary blurriness but provide longer-lasting relief.
Change Your Environment
Your surroundings can negatively affect your dry eye if you aren’t careful. Particles, allergens, and other debris can irritate your eyes and draw moisture out of them.
Using appliances and cleaning methods to your advantage is a great way to mitigate dry eye triggers in your environment. Clean your home often with a damp cloth to remove dust, pollen, and pet dander.
The wetness on the cloth will cause the particles to cling instead of becoming airborne and irritating your eyes. Buying an air purifier will clean the air in your home or office.
Using a humidifier to enhance the ambient air moisture in your home also reduces dry eye symptoms. Check pollen levels in your area before going outside, and try to avoid leaving the house during times when they are high.
Eliminate Dry Eye at the Source
Treating the symptoms of dry eye and limiting the triggers only goes so far in combatting the condition. To solve your dry eye, you need to find out what exactly is causing it in the first place.
Dry eye is either due to a lack of tears or your tears lacking a key ingredient. When you get medical treatment for your dry eyes, a thorough test of your tear film will determine what is causing them.
Once you know the cause, your eye doctor will recommend the proper treatment. There are various treatments your eye doctor will use to end your dry eye syndrome.
These include:
- Plugging your tear ducts with punctal plugs to keep tears on the surface of your eye longer
- Tear-inducing medication
- Heat compression therapy to unblock the lipid-producing glands in your eyes that coat your tears in oil
Don’t let dry eyes interfere with your life any longer. There are excellent treatment options to end this chronic nuisance!
Schedule an appointment at Westlake Eye Specialists in Austin, TX, to find out how you can get rid of your dry eyes!
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