What do you mean by dry eye?
Whenever our eyes are not able to produce sufficient amount of tear or the damage created is getting evaporated very quickly, we suffer from dry eye. The production of tear is always required in enough quantity because it helps our eyes to work appropriately and even provides us vision comfort. It keeps our eyes moist which contributes to wash out all the dirt and infection. And keep our eyes protected.
Type of dry eyes:
There is two type of dry eye which occur to regular people resulting in problems and irritation in the eyes.
Aqueous tear-deficient dry eye-
When a proper amount of tear is failed to be produced by the lacrimal gland, there becomes a failure of safety coat on the top layer of the eye causing a problem in the eye. Due to the lack of proper volume of the tear, hyperosmotic occurs which results in the production of more salt and less tear. It again results in hyperosmotic of corneal epithelium. Due to this inflammatory mediator are collected on the surface of the eye causing damage to the goblet cell of the corneal epithelium. Goblet cells are critical because they produce mucins which give protection to the eye.
Evaporative dry eye-
When an active outer lipid layer of tear by the Meibomian gland of optical part is not present. The tears evaporate very quickly which results in the lack of protective layer over the eye causing a defect in the eye. It results in the dryness, irritation, inflammatory of the eye.
Other names of the diseases commonly known within the population:
- Keratoconjunctivitis sicca
- Dysfunctional tear syndrome
- Lacrimal keratoconjunctivitis
- Dry eye syndrome
- Evaporative tear deficiency or aqueous tear deficiency
- LASIK-induced neurotrophic epitheliopathy
Symptoms which gives an alert to the person of dry eye
- The eyes will suffer from severe pricking, irritation of itching, and severe burning sensation.
- A person will suffer from huge pain and redness due to itchiness.
- The person will feel as if something like sand is moving inside the eye.
- There will be a continuous discharge of mucus which will create a problem for the individual.
- The person will be unable to cry because of lack of volume of tear which increases the lack of comfortability of person.
- There will be temporary blurriness in vision, or there will have cloudy vision. A person will be unable to see clearly.
- It’s very delicate towards the light. The person will be unable to bear substantial light ray on eyes it will hurt the person.
- There will open dense eyelids which will obstruct the vision and result in irritation of the eye.
- The person will face difficulty in wearing or using contact lens. He will be unable to have a clear and natural vision with this lens
- There will be heavy pressure on the eye while watching television, computer or reading a book with full focus.
Causes of this disease
- The air in our surroundings flows with lots of dust particles and irritants which can cause severe irritation to the eye causing allergy and inflammation. Many another natural occurrence like low humidity, smokes, chemical gases, sun exposures and heat also affect the condition of the eye.
- It occurs due to the change in the hormones like during menstrual cycle, pregnancy or menopause. It can cause due to therapy of hormone replacement or during the intake of hormone related medicine or pills. It changes the running system of the body which also affects the operating system of eyes causing this disease.
- It can also be occurred due to the skin diseases if any took place near the eye surface. The infection from the skin affects the top layer of the eye causing inflammation in the eye.
- Many eye surgeries and treatments can also cause a problem to the eye. Some of the treatments like LASIK and cataract surgery can cause this diseases because during the internal exposure of the eyes this goblet cells get damaged and result to the dry eye.
- When it is infrequent or lacks proper blinking, there will be a lack of protective layer over the eye cause burning and lack of appropriate volume of tears, and it causes evaporation of tears from the eye causing the problem which creates irritation to the eye.
- An autoimmune system can also cause this diseases. It can be due to a lifelong continual inflammation of eyes. It is a very severe problem for the person suffering from this.
Various intake of medicines can also result in the side effect of dryness of eye which can be because of medications such as nasal decongestants, tranquilizers, blood pressure medication, antihistamines or antidepressants. It can also be caused due to long term intake of the vitamin medicine or lake of the proper vitamin. The disease can also be caused due to long term use of contact lens.
Treatment of Dry Eyes:
Treatment of every disease depends on the condition due to which it causes. So regular check-up is very much needed as doctors can understand the proper reason of the conditions. For some condition, the expert can change our medication which can give a result in the treatment. Or it can be treated by wearing off the contact lens and visit the nearest optical treatment center which can provide the proper solution. The drugs for anti-inflammation is the only medicine for the dry eyes which should also be taken and prescribed by the doctor. Eye drops, or it can be called as artificial tears can also be used for its treatment. Some foods need to be taken like salmon and sardines or walnuts etc. it reduces itchiness and burning sensation of the eye. As the eye is a very delicate and sophisticated part of the body so, homemade treatments must be followed as well proper expert treatment is also equally required. He will able to understand all the problems and give a required solution without any side effects.
If proper treatment is not done, then there are chances of inflammation, conjunctivitis and much more. So appropriate treatment is much required.