What is dry eye syndrome?
Dry eye syndrome, or dry eye disease, is typically characterised by little or no production of tears from the tear ducts in your eyes. This means you cannot maintain the protective film of moisture in your eyes, which prevents foreign bodies from harming your eyes and lubricating the eyeballs.
Dry eyes can lead to increased incidences of bacterial infections, inflammation, and potential corneal scarring. While it can be an uncomfortable condition, it is treatable and rarely leads to long-term vision damage.
Dry eye symptoms
Certain problems are common among those suffering from dry eyes. Generally, people are likely to experience a burning sensation, pain in the eyes, and redness. If you have dry eye syndrome, you may also experience watery tearing, mucous in the eyes, tired eyes, difficulty watching screens, struggling to focus, or a feeling of grit or sand in your eyes.
Typically, dry eyes are simply uncomfortable and distracting, but if you experience chronic symptoms that do not respond to home treatments, you might need to seek professional assistance in the form of dry eye treatment.
Take a look at our 3 tips to relieve dry eye symptoms for more information on how you can prevent flare-ups.
Dry eye causes
There are several factors that can increase your chances of experiencing dry eye syndrome.
For example, if you are over the age of 50, wear contact lenses, or spend a long time looking at screens without breaks, you are more likely to develop symptoms. Other risk factors include spending extended periods of time in air-conditioned or heated spaces, windy or cold weather, smoking and drinking alcohol, or taking certain medications.
Dry eyes may also be caused by other underlying conditions. These include but are not limited to blepharitis, Sjögren’s syndrome, or lupus.
Blepharitis and dry eye
Blepharitis often co-presents dry eye syndrome. Blepharitis is described as an inflammatory disorder of the eyelid which is commonly associated with bacterial or skin conditions. It causes red, swollen, and itchy eyelids and is usually treated through regular eyebaths.
Some symptoms of blepharitis like dandruff around the eyelashes, cysts, and swelling can all lead to complications in the normal lubrication of your eyes. The majority of dry eye syndrome cases are caused by blepharitis due to reduced meibomian gland lipid production. This allows more water to evaporate from your eye than usual, causing dryness.
Dry eye complications
The severity of dry eye syndrome varies from person to person. However, you should probably seek medical advice if you have noticed dry eye symptoms that don’t seem to go away or are getting worse. While dry eyes are rarely serious, they can lead to complications if left untreated.
Untreated, dry eyes can cause corneal ulcers, conjunctivitis and impair your ability to wear contact lenses.
Additionally, they can lead to difficulties with reading and driving, headaches, and keeping your eyes open. Although rare, such complications can be serious, so it is best to take action to diagnose and treat the causes of dry eyes before they lead to more severe conditions.
Sign up for our dry eyes self-test to find out more.
Schirmer’s test (dry eye test)
Schirmer’s test is a method of evaluating a patient’s ability to produce aqueous tears.
If you experience symptoms consistent with dry eye syndrome, a healthcare professional will likely use Schirmer’s test as a diagnostic tool. An ophthalmologist can use this method to determine whether the cause of surface dryness is caused by the lacrimal glands failing to work properly, as opposed to another condition.
The technique involves placing a strip of filter paper inside the lower eyelid. The patient then closes their eyes for five minutes. After this, the healthcare professional can remove the filter paper and determine the distance traveled by the tears. Typically, the less moisture on the paper, the fewer tears an individual has produced. This non-invasive test has been used for about 100 years for detecting dry eye syndrome.
Dry eyes treatment
There are many methods for dry eye treatment. One popular way of alleviating the symptoms is to use over-the-counter eye drops to moisten the surface of your eyes.
These can be helpful if you experience mild to moderate symptoms. Doctors might also prescribe medication to help with dry eye syndrome. This might be taken orally or as eye drops but will usually work by reducing inflammation in the eyelids.
Making slight changes to your lifestyle could also reduce the symptoms of dry eye syndrome. For example, you might be able to alleviate dry eye syndrome by not smoking or drinking alcohol, avoiding dusty environments, or wearing contact lenses less regularly.
If the condition does not respond to medication, your doctor might recommend undergoing certain procedures. For example, they might opt to close your tear ducts to slow the rate at which tears drain from your eyes. Another commonly used procedure is to clear blocked oil glands by heating the eyelids. This is a relatively quick and non-invasive treatment.
