Dry-eye syndrome, unlike other common eye conditions, turns to be the biggest pain to bear by any age group of people. Dry-eye is getting immensely common among people due to various reasons, one however because of the prevalent use of digital devices. Dry-eye syndrome symptoms are felt by every teenager to mostly middle aged women and older generations. It exists to cause insufferable pain and annoyance in their lifestyle and often eyesight as well. It's a chronic condition that is universal but earlier it mostly affected the older adults and fast forward to 2020, the younger adults are also equally suffering through this.





The concerning figure about dry eye syndrome results in permanent damage to the eye and vision loss if it is left untreated. Here’s a sorted guide for you that analyzes what causes dry eye syndrome and how it can be treated.





What is Dry eye syndrome?

Dry-eye syndrome, also medically known as keratoconjunctivitis sicca (ten points if you pronounced it right) is a chronic eye inflammation condition. It’s a defective eye condition that is caused by the tears of the eyes that is either due to reduced tear production or extreme tear vapourisation. Dry-eye syndrome is quite rampant in the current generation as it severely causes altercation to your eyes state.









Dry-eye syndrome creates itchiness, burning sensation, redness and often blurred vision in our eyes. Though, a dry eye is not responsible for causing an immediate permanent loss in your vision or result in any inevitable eye disease. Dry eye is not an easy condition to handle as it results in high uncomfort to your body as it starts to create uneasiness and the eyes feel an immense amount of insufferable time by receiving scratching and itchiness.





Dry-eye, however, results in giving blurry eyesight for some time but the blurriness is not permanent and it goes away if it is timely treated. You feel as if there is a piece of dirt or an eyelash stuck inside of your eyes but in reality, there is no foreign particle in there.





It’s however recommended not to scratch too much as it only results in damaging the delicate exterior eye parts. People with severe or excessive dry eyes tend to damage the surface of the eye which result in harsh damage like vision loss and corneal perforation. Dry-eye starts being a small and unreactioned eye condition but it steadily creates negative impacts on your eyes and vision-related activity like driving, reading, playing or any outdoor and indoor activity. Once you start to experience dry-eye then you become prone to it as no one takes this eye condition seriously and it finally reaches a stage where a serious step can make or break the state of your eye.





What are the types of Dry-eye syndrome?

Though the name of this condition might suggest the obvious state of the eye but science always has an exception. Dry-eye syndrome is not only dryness of the eye but it can be classified into two different types of condition. As previously mentioned, dry eye syndrome causes due to the eye glands to produce less tear or produce enough that you start to develop tears. Many times, you experience both of these dry eye syndrome symptoms at once, you feel extremely dry or tears fall down your cheeks for no specific reason.





You can always check the severity of dryness in your eyes if you for an eye test as the opticians will advise you the stage you are at dryness and recommend treatment such as an eye droplet or Blue light glasses, based on your cause or reason behind the occurrence. Don’t worry, you don’t have to spend your valuable cash on an eye test because at Specscart, you get it for free. Call Specscart and book an appointment or order an appointment at home for a free eye test by an expert of opticians in the U.K.





What are dry eye syndrome symptoms?

Dry eye syndrome is pretty loud and effective in giving you the notice that you are suffering from dry eye. Whatever the dry eye syndrome causes might look like, whether you developed it from binge watching Chernobyl or Notting Hill (I’ll stick to Chernobyl all day) or spent your day in a humid environment, we all experience similar symptoms.





Here are the listed dry eye syndrome symptoms:

Constant irritation and pain in the eyes.

Redness and sensation of grittiness or foreign particle in the eye

Difficulty in opening the eyes.

Blurry vision and loss of concentration

Inadequate sensitivity to the light

Difficulty in doing daily activity

Watery eyes and often tears fall down your cheeks

Gathering of mucus around or in the eyes.

Complication in wearing contact lenses.

Loss of productiveness





What are the cause of Dry eye Syndrome

Dry eye syndrome is caused at any stage of your life as the most common reason behind dry eye occurrence is damage to the eyes. Here are some to sit back and think when you mess up big time, don’t worry these causes are not hazardous and can be treated with the right process.





Reasons for developing Dry eye syndrome:





Inadequate Tear Production by Glands

We might get little Doctor Who over here but bear with me, you’ll always learn something new every day. Dry eye syndrome is caused by uneven tear production from the lacrimal hyposecretion gland. When the lacrimal gland produces uneven tear production, it often results in not sufficient tears to cover up the entire cornea and eye area or excessive that overflows out of the eye. The aqueous layer gets affected and ultimately results in a loss in the amount of tears.





To sum it up, the main cause of dry eye syndrome are:

Your eyes don’t produce enough tears.

Your tears are not evenly spread across the front of the eye.

You must have thought what the aqueous layer is?

The aqueous layer is part of the tear film, which is present in front of your eyes.





What is a tear film?

The tear film makes the exterior part of the eyes that’s present at the upfront. It covers the whole area of the eyes and it supports eye health while offering clear vision, proper concentration and focus. It does a lot!









It’s made with three important layers:

Mucin (mucous) Layer

Aqueous(Watery) Layer

Lipid (oily) Layer





All these three layers work in perfect coordination to keep your eyes healthy and clear. The aqueous layer furnishes oxygen, moisture and beneficial nutrients to the cornea of the eye while it also clears up any dirt or dust accumulated in front of the eye. This layer is produced by the smaller yet important gland called lacrimal gland. It’s the middle layer and is sealed by the lipid layer and it also helps in spreading evenly tears throughout the eye. All these three layers are codependent and work as warriors for each other hence their production is important inorder to avoid dry eyes. When we produce less or more of these layers than the normal count of one, they stop working in sync and you develop dry eye syndrome. When we produce less or more of these layers than the normal count of one, they stop working in sync and you develop dry eye syndrome.





Technology Usage

Technology is the biggest reason behind the larger growth in dry eyes among all the age groups, especially the younger adults. Digital devices such as smartphones, ipads, tablets, laptops and computers result in the cause of dry eyes. Dry eyes syndrome is consistent because of the emission of blue light rays from the screens that hit the retina of the eyes and cause dryness. If you spend your day playing games, binge-watching shows or reading your favorite author on Kindle, all result in dryness of the eyes because you blink less and absorb more harmful blue light rays.









Lifestyle and Environment

Lifestyle methods also result in dry-eye syndrome like staying too long in an air conditioned or humid room. You either go for a vacation to places that are windy, dry or extremely cold as they result in drying your eyes. If you smoke or drink alcohol then it is one of the biggest dry eye syndrome causes. If you also wear contact lenses then putting on and removing causes a lot of touching of the lenses result in dryness of the eye.





Auto-Immune Disease and Medications

Auto-immune diseases like Sjogren's Syndrome, Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and certain medication are also responsible for causing dry-eye syndrome.





Ageing -Mostly over your 50’s

Other than great wisdom and buckets filled with good and some bad experiences about life, we also get some eyesight problems in our old age. Dry eye is a common eye condition that all your grandpa and grandma are keeping up with because the eyes' ability to move deteriorates as we age. Our eyelids are no longer able to spread or produce tears evenly around the eyes and the eyelids also don’t work productively compared to before.





Menopause in Women

Dry-eye syndrome is quite common among women but it's especially soaring after menopause. Though it's milder but it is still present due to various hormonal changes in the body that occurred due to pregnancy, menstruation and later menopause which is generally at the age of 45 to 50.





Dry-eye Syndrome Treatment:

Now, we have reached the relieving and the good part of this eye condition where we come to know the right medicine and finally get rid of it. The medication for dry eye syndrome and how you can get rid of it and restart your day back with problem and dry free eyes. Here are the discussed dry eye syndrome symptoms and treatment:





Using Eye Drops:

Eye drops are such a lifesaver, just a little bit of drop in your eyes gives your eyes normal state back. It is also known as artificial tear and is an efficient replacement in the place of the natural tear film. It gets rid of the constant dry eye syndrome symptoms and treatment is done with great comfort. Your optician will prescribe you how many droplets you need to put into your eyes in a day as they are properly informed about the state and severity of the eye state. Here are three different types of eye drops recommended by doctors around the world:





Ointment - It’s an oil-based liquid that is recommended to be applied on eyes. It’s mostly advised to use before going to bed because most people have different causes of dry-eye. Ointment is mostly prescribed for people at night because many times our eyes are not properly shut and they dry out overnight. The ointment helps to prevent that at night and keeps your eyes non-dry and comfortable.





Artificial Tear- It’s made by many pharmacies and people prefer to use it by brands. The mucous layer of it contains mucin, gelatinous glycoprotein and others that allow even tear film distribution at the corneal surface.





Gel - Gel is thicker drops and is made with different chemicals that stay in your eyes for longer. It contains a high level of hyaluronan that creates great water-binding capacity and offers long-lasting lubrication to the eyes. It’s not too different from ordinary drops but the real catch is that it is not often required to put them in the eyes.





Glasses - Blue light blocking glasses

Blue light blocking glasses works as the best modern lifesaver to all your digital problems which is almost the 99% cause of the dry-eye syndrome. Blue light blocking glasses are a great innovation that blocks out 99.9% harmful blue light rays falling on your eyes and keeps it protected 24/7. Click here to know more about blue light blocking glasses.





Lifestyle and Environmental changes

Changes are always good but healthy changes are helpful and effective in shaping you perfectly from mind to the body. Rely less on smoking or drinking alcohol and also avoiding dry, cold or dusty environments. Take safeguarding glasses to prevent hitting extreme wind at your eyes.





What are some dry eye syndrome home remedies?

Home remedies bring delight to the eyes, not only because we don’t have to spend a lot of money to buy new products but also that it is natural and healthy. Here are some home remedies you can do to avoid dry-eye syndrome:

Arrange a healthy diet with food items that support good eye health. Food items like fish, flax seed, nutes, eggs, lots of green and leafy veggies.

Blink more often, don’t concentrate or stare at the screen of your television, computer or at a book however interesting it may seem.

Don’t apply too much eye makeup, makeup however aesthetic it may look, its chemical at the end of the day and anything in the tear film is not good for its healthy functioning.

Try to wear less contact lenses, or give a break and change to try different types of lenses that turn more suitable to the eyes.





Common Question About Dry Eye Syndrome





Q 1: Can you cure dry eye syndrome? Ans: Is dry eye syndrome curable? No! There is no cure for dry eye syndrome because it is not a permanent problem but rather happens when the eyes produce an inadequate tear. However, you can perfectly treat dry eyes with tea, Blue light blocking glasses and altering favourable environmental conditions.

Q 2: Is dry eye syndrome permanent? Ans: Dry eye syndrome is not a permanent eye condition however once you start to develop it, you become more prone to it. If not treated at the right time, it can cause permanent eye damage.

Q: 3 Can dry eye syndrome cause dizziness? Ans: No! Dry-eye syndrome does not cause dizziness.

Q: 4 Is it true to develop dry eye syndrome in one eye? Ans: Yes! Normally, dry eye syndrome affects both the eyes but many a time it affects only on eyes than the other.

Q: 5 Do dry eye syndrome cause blurred vision? Ans: Yes! It is possible dry eye syndrome blurred vision. You get blurry vision for a short period of time and it also leads to loss of concentration and focus.





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