WHY DO WE GET DRY EYES?
Dry eyes are due to the eyes producing an inadequate amount of tears and/or tears of poor quality. Typically, it’s actually a combination of both.
Are your eyes constantly stinging, burning, watery, gritty or red?
These are some of the symptoms of dry eyes.
Tears are made up of 3 major components:
Lipid layer
1.
produced mainly by the meibomian glands which sit on the eyelid margin. These glands are responsible for producing the oily part of the tears (meibum) which helps to slow down tear evaporation.
Aqueous layer
(watery portion)
2.
The aqueous layer is mostly water but also contains proteins, minerals and carbohydrates to help nourish the cornea.
Mucin layer
3.
The foundation layer which helps spread the tears over the surface of the eye.
You can see each layer of the tears plays a vital part in keeping the surface moist, smooth and healthy. Deficiencies in any of those can lead to poor quality tears and consequently dry eyes!
Treatment for dry eyes is complex and in a lot of cases requires multiple means of therapy.
The therapy will depend on the underlying cause of the dry eyes.
If you are experiencing constant watery, red, gritty, burning eyes please feel free to give us a call or use our super simple online booking system to book an appointment with our optometrist.