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Dry Eyes: What Causes Dry Eyes?

Two different causes can be responsible for this feeling: Either the tear production is too low, or the loss of tear fluid is too high. Too little tear production is often related to age-related regression of the tear gland tissue. Many systemic diseases can affect the lacrimal gland, and medications such as atropine, beta-blockers, or diuretics can help also. If your eye loses too much tear fluid, the reasons are found in the mucous and fat components. Poor adhesion of the tear film can be caused by a lack of vitamin A or surface injuries (e.g., chemical burns, burns, and scars). If the evaporation of the liquid is too high, it is often an inflammation of the lid edges,

But the reasons for dry eyes are not always so far removed from our sphere of influence: dry eyes can also be caused by very banal situations in everyday life. Suppose you suffer from dry eyes and are neither taking any special medication nor are you aware of any serious illnesses. In that case, there is a high probability that you will be able to relieve the symptoms yourself. This is the case, for example, with external influences such as drafts, dry air, air conditioning, long staring at screens, or cigarette smoke – all factors that can be avoided or at least reduced.

Tip: Have you noticed that you have the feeling of dry eyes again and again, especially at certain times of the year? Have you ever thought about an allergy test? Pollen, for example, is often a trigger for dry eyes.

From Diagnosis To Therapy

Our body’s signals cannot permanently be assigned or interpreted. Most of those affected describe several complaints to their ophthalmologist in lovely eye (เลิฟลี่อาย which is the term in Thai) for example. Use the following list for yourself as a quick test to get the first clue:

  • Foreign body sensation, burning, scratching
  • Rubbing a grain of sand feels
  • a feeling of pressure in the eyes
  • pains
  • tired eyes
  • eyelid swelling
  • mucus secretion, sticky eyelids (especially after sleeping)
  • conjunctival redness
  • feeling of tears
  • Need to wipe my eyes constantly
  • visual disturbances
  • glare, photophobia

The top priority of the ophthalmologist is to exclude serious diseases as the cause of dry eyes. Other eye diseases can also cause all the symptoms of dry eyes. After a general eye examination with a check of the optic nerve and a look at the retina, the doctor can often make a suspected diagnosis, which the so-called smear test can confirm. A strip of filter paper is hung in the lower lid to measure the amount of tears. Further examinations may be necessary to rule out other causes reliably depending on the clinical picture and the history. Why dry eye treatment isn’t quite as easy as you might think shows a look at the complicated lacrimal apparatus. Therefore, the direct route from diagnosis to therapy is not always successful. And if the treatment is not successful for too long, frustration is inevitable between you and the ophthalmologist.