Dry eyes

Karu maroke

Tears are made up of three separate secretions: a sticky base layer, a watery mid layer and an oily top layer (which slows tear evaporation). Tears form a protective film over the surface of your eye, lubricating movement and washing away debris and any toxins.

Dry eyes are caused by your eyes not producing enough tears or by something affecting the ability of your tears to form a protective film. This gives your eyes a sore, gritty sensation.

Despite the name, the irritation of dry eye may trigger excessive tears.

Dry eyes are common with ageing and are more common in women than men. They're associated with some health conditions and medications, and with screen use (such as not blinking enough while watching TV).

Causes of dry eyes

Several factors can lead to dry eyes, including:

inflammation of your eyelid margins and scaly eyelashes (blepharitis)
medications such as decongestants, antihistamines, oral contraceptives, antidepressants and isotretinoin
underlying conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, asthma, thyroid disease and other immune diseases
screen use – users tend to blink less
wearing contact lenses.

Symptoms of dry eyes

Common symptoms include:

eyes feeling gritty or sandy
red eyes
sore eyes, often with a burning feeling
variable or blurred vision that gets better after blinking
uncomfortable contact lenses
being very sensitive to light.

Diagnosing dry eyes

Often you can try treating dry eyes yourself but you should contact your optometrist or general practice team if:

your eyes are painful or red
it's harder to see well or your vision is blurred
your eyes have a coloured discharge, or your eyelids are stuck together when you wake up
you have glaucoma, rheumatoid arthritis or diabetes
the dry eyes persist for seven to 10 days, despite treatment.

Treating dry eyes

If there is an obvious cause, the treatment will aim to reduce or address this issue, such as changing medication, avoiding wearing contact lenses or reducing screen time.

Artificial tears or ointment can help, and you can buy them from a pharmacy.

Treating eyelid inflammation (blepharitis) by cleaning your eyelids and using hot compresses can improve your dry eyes by improving the protective oily tear layer.

Increasing your omega-3 intake by eating more oily fish or taking a fish oil, flaxseed oil or other omega-3 fatty acid supplement every day may help dry eyes. Check with your general practice team or pharmacist before taking a fish oil supplement to make sure this is safe for you.

If these treatments do not work, see your general practice team or optometrist to review the diagnosis and discuss other treatment options. These include other prescription drops and minor eye surgery to block the drainage of your tears or fix eyelid problems.

Preventing dry eyes

You can help prevent dry eye symptoms by:

protecting your eyes from sun and wind by wearing wrap-around sunglasses
avoiding irritants such as smoke, dust, cosmetics and chlorine
avoiding air conditioners that dry the air, or at least turning down the fan speed to reduce air movement
not leaving contact lenses in your eyes for too long
using a humidifier at home
using artificial tears or lubricant regularly.

If you're doing concentrated eye work, such as reading, watching TV or working on a computer, make sure you take breaks. Closing your eyes for 10 seconds every five to 10 minutes will help, as will blinking more often.

HealthInfo recommends the following pages

NHS – Dry eyes
More information about dry eyes and how to treat them.

Content shared between HealthInfo Canterbury, KidsHealth and Health Navigator NZ as part of a National Health Content Hub collaborative. Last reviewed March 2023.

Sources

Page reference: 206293

Review key: HIDRE-206293