Do you know about these 6 Common Causes for Dry Eyes?
- drgunjandeshpande
- Feb 27, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 7
Dry eyes, also known as dry eye syndrome, is a common condition in which a person doesn't have enough quality tears to lubricate and nourish the eye.
What exactly is Dry Eye?
It occurs when your eyes are unable to produce enough tears or when the tears produced evaporate too quickly. This can cause your eyes to feel dry, itchy, and uncomfortable, and can even lead to vision problems in severe cases.
In this blog, we will discuss dry eyes in detail, including its causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options.
Causes of Dry Eyes:
There are several causes of dry eyes, including:
1. Aging:
Aging is a significant risk factor for dry eye. Large epidemiological studies from the Women's Health Study and Physician's Health noted that dry eye prevalence increases in women and men every five years after the age of 50, with greater prevalence in women compared to men. As we age, our eyes naturally produce fewer tears, and the quality of the tears also declines.
In the aging eye, risk factors such as polypharmacy, androgen deficiency, decreased blink rates, and oxidative stress can predispose the patient to developing dry eye that is frequently more severe, has higher economic costs, and leads to worse consequences to the well-being of the patient.
2. Medical Conditions:
Although usually a local disease with a benign course, prevalence of systemic disease association in eyes with dryness, seems to be significant. Certain medical conditions can cause dry eyes, including Sjogren's syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, thyroid disorders, psoriasis, rosacea, pemphigus and diabetes. Other conditions which can cause dryness are facial nerve palsy, chemical and thermal burns, erythema multiforme, congenital alacrimia, scleroderma, Vitamin A deficiency etc.
Do le tyour treating ophthalmologist know about your systemic conditions which may have a bearing on the eyes as mentioned above.
3. Medications:
One important cause could be one of the medicines you take every day. Many common drugs have dry eye as a side effect. Medications lead to dry eye in many ways. They can cut the number of tears you make or change the mix of ingredients in them. Some medications can cause dry eyes, such as antihistamines, decongestants, antidepressants, diuretics, beta-blockers, belladona, birth control pills, hormone replacement therapy, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (common painkillers), acne control drugs like isotretinoin, proton pump inhibitors used for gastritis, anti-psychotics, cyclophosphamide commonly used as chemotherapy, and blood pressure medications.
Ocular medications like latanoprost, cyclosporine, bimatoprost, moxifloxacin, travoprost, brimonidine, anti virals, miotics, olopatadine, topical anaesthetics, topical NSAIDS and preservatives like benzalkonium chloride (BAK) also cause dryness.
4. Hormonal Changes:
If you're bothered by dry eye, it's possible your hormones are to blame. These chemical messengers travel all over the body, so it's no surprise they can also affect your eyes. The chief ones are thyroid hormone, insulin, and sex hormones like estrogen.
We have much more to learn about how hormones play a role in the lubrication of your eyes, but we are understanding that dry eyes can result from a deficiency in estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone.
In women, before menopause it is known that the greater your testosterone, the fewer tears you produce and the greater your oestrogen, the greater your tears. During menopause, this reverses, the greater your testosterone, the greater your tears and the greater your oestrogen, the fewer your tears. Shifting levels of oestrogen and progesterone can affect the tear secreting glands in the eyes and eyelids, leading to irritated eyes.
Apart from this, hormonal changes, such as those that occur during pregnancy, and breastfeeding, can also cause dry eyes.
5. Environmental Factors:
Nutrition. The meals which are not whole foods are a major cause. Diet lacking vitamins, essential fatty acids, especially EPA and DHA reduce tear production. Eating less whole grains, more sugar, and more processed foods have large effect on the body milieu. As a result, insulin levels go topsy-turvy and body may show signs of inflammation.
Pollution and irritants. Smoke aggravates dry eyes. Excessive rubbing of eyes can disturb the tear film, remove tears, and transfer irritants to your eye. Makeup, if any used should always be hypoallergenic.
Dehydration and dehumidification. If you are dehydrated, the fluid in your eyes can be depleted, so drink lots of water and herbal teas. Another thing you can try is a humidifier. Clean it with soap so you don’t add more irritants to the air.
Blink. When staring at a computer screen or kindle or Ipad, the normal blink rate reduces. As a result the tear film becomes more prone to evaporation and subsequent drying. Computer vision syndrome is a leading factor for dryness. One must follow the 20-20-20 rule.
Contact lenses wear. Contact lenses can soak up the fluid in the eye and they also collect proteins on the surface, which further irritates the eyes. Also lenses reduce the tear film spread directly onto the corneal surface. If you need to use eye drops, check the label, as not all drops are made to be used with contacts.
Get more sleep. Irregular sleep doe snot offer rest to the eyes. This leads to increase in stress that contributes to imbalance in hormones. A body repairs its cells and detoxifies while one sleeps, which in turn also helps decrease inflammation. Exposure to dry air, wind, smoke, and dust can cause dry eyes. Additionally, air conditioning and heating systems can also cause dry eyes by reducing humidity levels.
6. Eye Surgery:
Ocular surgery is considered a risk factors for dry eye. Certain eye surgeries, such as LASIK, cataract surgery, and corneal transplant surgery, can cause temporary dry eyes. These surgeries affect the tear film stability leading to more evaporation and subsequent tear film break up.
If you suspect that you have dry eyes, it's important to visit an eye doctor for a proper diagnosis. The doctor may perform a comprehensive eye exam and additional tests such as the Schirmer's test, tear break-up time test, fluorescein staining test, and meibomian gland evaluation to determine the underlying cause of your dry eyes.
In conclusion, dry eyes can cause discomfort and irritation, but there are many treatment options available to alleviate symptoms and improve the quality of life for people with this condition. If you suspect that you have dry eyes, it's important to visit an eye doctor for a proper diagnosis and treatment plan.
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