How to Treat Dry Eyes Naturally
We have all experienced the (usually temporary) symptoms of dry eyes at one time or another, especially if we work at a computer or have been exposed to too much smoke, wind or sun. But dry eye syndrome is a serious, chronic condition many people experience, where not enough tears are produced to keep the eye comfortable.
Over the course of a day, we blink nearly 12,000 times. But for people with dry eye syndrome, each blink can be irritating and even downright painful.
The medical terms used to describe dry-eye syndrome are keratoconjunctivitis sicca or keratitis sicca.
Symptoms of dry eye
· Itching
· Burning
· Irritation
· Redness
· Blurred vision that improves with blinking
· Excessive tearing
Symptoms can often be worse in an environment where there is a lot of air conditioning or central heating.
With dry eye your eyes will feel irritated, scratchy, dry and uncomfortable. Your eyes may be red and feel like they are burning or that there is something in them like grit or an eyelash.
Sometimes, your vision may be blurred, but this normally goes away after a short while or when you blink.
Often you will have excess tears running down your cheek. So therefore it can be quite confusing to be diagnosed with dry eye. If your eyes stream like this, it is likely that they are not being lubricated enough and are producing more tears to compensate. However, these tears are mostly water and do not have the lubricating qualities or the rich composition of normal tears. They will wash debris away, but they will not lubricate the eye surface effectively.
If you have dry-eye syndrome, your eyes may be relatively comfortable in the morning because the eyes have been closed during sleep.
The volume of tears being produced by the tear sacs cannot be increased so you need to add artificial tears using eye drops.
There are also special eye lubricants available that can be used at night before going to sleep.
Causes of dry eye
There are several different reasons that someone’s tearfilm can become unstable, causing dry eyes. The most common is age, as tear production normally decreases as we grow older. Dry eyes can also be a symptom of other diseases that affect us as we age, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Other causes of dry eyes may include allergies, vitamin deficiencies and overly dry climatic conditions. Excessive heating or air conditioning can also cause dry eyes, as can the use of drugs such as antihistamines, antidepressant, and medications used in blood pressure. Hormonal change in women during menopause, lactation, pregnancy and menstruation also be the reason behind dry eyes.
Natural ways to cure dry eyes:
· Avoid working on computer for long hours. If you cannot avoid it, take short breaks in between. Also be conscious about your blinking rate and maintain it at normal range to avoid dry eyes.
· Avoid going out into polluted, filled with dust atmosphere and if necessary always wear goggles.
· Almond oil is very helpful in curing the dry eye problem. Adding few drops of almond oil in eyes make the eyes moisturized and calm.
· Sometimes dry eye problem is caused due to blockage of glands. In such case applying warm compresses over eyes helpful in removing blockage of tear producing glands.
· Vitamin A is an essential for healthiness of eyes. Include Vitamin A rich food like carrot, mango, milk and spinach in your daily diet to keep your eyes fit.
· Drink plenty of water around 10 glasses each day. It keep the body as well as eyes hydrated.
· Mix few drops of lavender oil in a cup of water and apply this mixture over your eyes with the help of a neat cotton ball to soothes your eyes.
· Placing freshly cut pieces of cucumber over the eyes also make the eyes calm and provide relief from the discomfort caused by dry eyes.
Sources:
cnib.ca
irishhealth.com
personal-fitness.org
Other links:
How to Preserve Eye Health through Diet?
Diet, meds and smoking linked to eye disease risks
Get Rid of Puffy Eyes at Home
