Dry, swollen eyes, what to do?

This is an automatically translated article.

The article was professionally consulted by Specialist Doctor II Nguyen Thai Hung - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Danang International Hospital. Specialist II Nguyen Thai Hung has 13 years of experience as a doctor treating eye diseases.
Dry eyes are a very common symptom affecting more than 37 million people around the world. It's that uncomfortable feeling of eye strain that you often experience after looking at a computer screen after a long time without blinking. You may also experience a clumsy feeling - quite common in dry eyes when you stare or get too focused on something and forget to blink often.

1. Why is dry eye disease so common and everyone gets it?

Most people have had, are, and will have dry eyes at some point in their lives. However, there are some cases where dry eyes are a symptom of a more serious vision problem.
Dry eye disease is a common manifestation of many people today, especially office workers who often have to sit in front of a computer screen. Although dry eyes are not too dangerous, they will cause symptoms of fatigue, redness, burning, and reduced work performance.
In the most severe cases, the patient may gradually lose vision. Dry eyes make the patient always feel the eyes are burning, hot, tired and heavy. Common symptoms are blurred vision after blinking, continuous tearing, white discharge in the eye sockets.

2. What causes dry eyes?

Dry eye is caused by your eye not producing enough lubricant or tears to keep it moist all the time. Lack of topical lubricant often causes the uncomfortable feeling that we all experience with dry eyes.
There are many causes of your eyes not producing enough tears, but the most common causes are:
Why are we prone to dry eyes?
Insufficient amount of tears: The lacrimal glands in and around the eyelids are responsible for producing water to wet the eyes. This ability will decrease with age, or people with eye disease. In addition, factors such as wind, polluted weather also make eyes easily dry. In particular, for people who are often exposed to computers, it will increase the evaporation rate of tears, leading to dry eyes. The quality of tears is not good: The tear film consists of 3 layers: the fat layer, the water layer, and the mucus layer. These 3 layers together protect the eyeball from external factors. The mucus layer helps to spread tears evenly on the cornea, the fat layer limits water evaporation to keep the eyes moist.

Dry eyes are caused by water evaporating too quickly or not being able to spread evenly across the surface of the eye. When these 3 layers are out of balance, it will increase the evaporation rate of tears, causing dry eyes. In addition, some diseases can cause disturbances in the oil and mucus layers, which also make the eyes more susceptible to dry.
Conditions such as blepharitis, rosacea can also prevent the mucus layer from producing water. Specific vision problems often cause dry eyes as a symptom. Spending long periods of time in front of screens is a common cause of dry eyes. Normally, when working with a computer a lot, needing high concentration will lead to a decrease in the number of blinks (normal frequency: 12-14 times/minute) making the lacrimal gland less active. At the same time, the open environment is constantly air-conditioned, and cigarette smoke also significantly affects the production of tears. Therefore, dry eyes are a common problem in modern office workers. Exposure to wind, air conditioners and heaters can dry out the eyes Long-term contact lens wear Side effects of specific medications.

3. Recognizing dry eyes through what symptoms?

Symptoms of dry eyes are very diverse:
Itchy eyes, eye pain, feeling heavy Feeling like a foreign object in the eye Frequently feeling burning, burning, burning pain Sticky or white foam in the eyes 2 Eye corner Blurred eyes have to blink continuously to go away Feeling sleepy, difficult to open eyes in the morning

4. Treatment

When thinking about treating dry eye, it's important to consider two distinct options, prevention and treatment or cure. If you want to avoid dry eyes, it is better to prevent dry eyes through a few basic techniques.
Wear computer glasses or special lenses that help prevent dry eyes from looking at a computer screen for too long. Eyezen lenses filter blue light from the screen and reduce eye discomfort caused by looking at the screen for too long. Give your eyes regular breaks when working on a computer or in front of a screen to give them a few minutes to rest. Simple eye exercises can help prevent dry eyes. An effective exercise is to alternate between gently closing your eyes and keeping them tightly closed. Do this 20 times a day to increase blinking. This will automatically increase the production of tears in your eyes. Limit direct eye contact with dust and light. You should wear glasses when going out to protect your eyes from harmful agents from the environment. Avoid letting the wind such as a dryer, fan, or air conditioner blow directly into your eyes. Use artificial tears often to prevent dry eyes. Do not stay up late, sleep enough 7-8 hours a day to help the eyes have the best time to rest. Do not smoke or do not let smoke directly into your eyes Have a reasonable diet, regularly add foods containing Omega-3 (found in fish) and Beta-Carotene (in colored vegetables) yellow, red), fortified with antioxidants to promote eye health. Principles when working with computers to help reduce dry eyes
Keep eye level 10-20cm higher than the center of the computer screen. The minimum distance between eyes and computer screen is 50cm. Blink frequently, keep your eyes closed, and roll your eyes to help regulate mucus better. Follow the 20-20-20 rule: Take a 20-second break from your computer every 20 minutes and focus on an object about 20 feet away. Get regular eye exams.

Dry eyes can cause you discomfort, eyestrain, burning pain, a lot of sticky eye discharge. Do not ignore the strange expressions of the eyes. Any expression is signaling you a problem. So does dry eyes. If you already have dry eyes, there are many treatment options to consider so you can feel better.
Eye drops or artificial tears help lubricate the eyes in the most natural way without the use of drugs. They are available at most convenience stores and drugstores, and are a convenient and effective way to get immediate relief from discomfort. A more drastic intervention is surgery. Surgery is reserved for serious cases and should not be considered without the advice of a doctor.

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