Prioritizing Your Eye Health
Naturally, your eyes produce tears to keep your eyes lubricated. Dry eye occurs when your eyes don’t produce enough good quality tears to keep your eyes moist. Additionally, you can develop dry eye if your tears evaporate too quickly.
Tears have a similar structure to saliva. They contain water, fatty oils, salt, and over 1,500 different proteins. Tears are made of 3 distinct layers:
- Mucous layer: this layer keeps the tear on the eye
- Aqueous layer: this layer washes away bacteria and protects the cornea
- Oily layer: this layer keeps the tear from evaporating too quickly
If your tears don’t have the right combination of these layers, they can create dry eye symptoms. If dry eye goes untreated, it can lead to an increased risk of eye infection, inflammation, and other vision problems.
Dry eye usually affects both eyes. If you’re experiencing these symptoms, you may have dry eye:
- Stinging, burning sensation in the eyes
- Gritty feeling, like something is in your eye
- Increased sensitivity to light
- Eye redness
- Discomfort or pain with contact lenses
- Overly watery eyes
- Blurred vision
If these symptoms persist or worsen, please give us a call for a thorough examination.
