When surface of our eye has lack of tears wiped across the surface & becomes dry, so dry spot develops. Eye blinking helps spread tears to keep our cornea moist & healthy.
How come we have dry spots or dry eye?
- If our eye’s tears factory does not produce enough tears to wet our eyes, dry spot can develop leading to dry eye.
- If our eye’s oil glands do not produce enough oil to be formed on cornea surface in preventing tears evaporation or your oil glands are blocked producing inadequate oil to surface of eye, we also may develop dry eye.
- If we do not fully close our eyes when we blink, we can also have dry spot at bottom part of our eyes giving us dry eye syndrome.
- Contact lens wear too, can leave our eyes dry as contact lenses are wrapped onto our cornea, especially if worn for very long hours, can prevent tears from going in between cornea & contact lens in order to wet our cornea.
- Sometimes, if you are so focused/concentrating on your computer work, you tend to blink lesser and less tears are spread across eye surface, so this may leave your eyes dry too.
- If we have any of the above, external factor such as direct air-conditioning facing your eyes may exacerbate/make worse of your dry eye.
- Nevertheless, systemic condition such as diabetes, or having done Lasik surgery before, or taking some oral medications like antihistamines or anti anxiety.. all these may cause side effect of dry eye.
In all these cases, you may use artificial tears to lubricate/moisten your eyes. There are two types of artificial tears.
- Artificial tears in a bottle packaging
This contains preservatives to keep it lasting for a month.
2. Artificial tears in many small tubes packed in a box
As this contains no preservative, after it is opened, you must finish using it within the same day.
These two types have the same function.
If you develop some redness using the preserved artificial tears, you may be sensitive to the preservative ingredient by which you need to use the non-preserved artificial tears.
Or if you wear contact lens, you need to use non-preserved artificial tears too. As this preservative may be absorbed into the contact lens material reducing comfort of contact lens wear.
Should you feel dryness, sandy/grittiness, stinging, or any discomfort that you feel something is not right, with or without contact lens wear, call/WA us to schedule an appointment with us for a dry eye evaluation or contact lens related enquiries.
Recently, we also have quite a few teenagers & adolescents coming in to enquire about contact lenses. Yes, please come by, aunty optometrist will guide you on proper contact lens wear and the type of contact lens that is suitable for you. If you have been purchasing your contact lenses online, bring your contact lenses over for aunty to have a look too;)
#ContactLens #DryEye