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Understanding Dry Eye Syndrome

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Understanding Dry Eye Syndrome

What You Need to Know

Dry eye syndrome is more than just an occasional annoyance—it’s a chronic condition that affects your comfort and quality of life. From irritation to fluctuating vision, dry eyes can make daily activities like reading, working, or even enjoying time outdoors difficult. But with the right knowledge and care, relief is possible.

Dry eye occurs when there’s a lack of proper lubrication or moisture on the surface of your eyes. This can result from various factors, including:

Reduced tear production due to aging or certain medical conditions.
Increased tear evaporation caused by dry environments or prolonged screen time.
Imbalances in the makeup of your tears, leading to inadequate hydration of the eye’s surface.

A young businessman works for a long time at a laptop inside the office, the man drips drops into his eyes, eye pain. An Indian man sits with a laptop at the workplace

Risk Factors Can Include:

Female
>40 years of age
Contact lens wear
Digital device use
Dry and dusty environments
Smoking
Inadequate water consumption
Unbalanced pro-inflammatory diet (lack of omega 3s)

Female
>40 years of age
Contact lens wear
Digital device use
Dry and dusty environments
Smoking
Inadequate water consumption
Unbalanced pro-inflammatory diet (lack of omega 3s)
Use of eye makeup
Allergic sensitivities
History of eye surgeries (e.g. cataract, LASIK)
Systemic conditions (e.g. diabetes, rosacea, arthritis, thyroid disease)
Medications (e.g. antihistamines, anti-depressants, diuretics, beta blockers, chemotherapy)

Use of eye makeup
Allergic sensitivities
History of eye surgeries (e.g. cataract, LASIK)
Systemic conditions (e.g. diabetes, rosacea, arthritis, thyroid disease)
Medications (e.g. antihistamines, anti-depressants, diuretics, beta blockers, chemotherapy)

Interestingly, many with dry eye disease will complain of watery eyes. This is because the eyes reflexively water when bothered by the irritation. This attempts to compensate for how dry the eyes are. However, tears are mostly made of water – alone, they cannot properly coat the eye and fix dry eye.

A proper tear film that coats the eye is made of 3 layers: water, lipid, and mucin. Water comes from tears produced in our lacrimal gland. Lipid comes from oil in our meibomian glands within our eyelids. Mucin comes from cells in the outermost layer of our eye, the conjunctiva.

Most cases, it is our meibomian glands that are not functioning properly. Without proper oil in our tears, our eyes dry up quickly. The optometrist can use a special scan to see how well your glands are working, and customize a treatment plan for you.

Did you know?

A watery eye can be a sign of dry eye: Your body may overproduce tears to compensate for dryness.
Not all drops are the same! If you are using over-the-counter eye drops, please let your doctor know. Some are not meant to be used long-term or more than 4 times a day. Some also have more chemical preservatives in them.
20% of people experience varying degrees of dry eye, with females over 40 being at the highest risk.
Sometimes you can have dry eyes without experiencing any symptoms. It is important to treat these cases to prevent worsening dry eye in the future
Although there is no cure for dry eye, there are many ways to manage it so that it interferes less with your day-to-day activities.