Seven reasons you have dry and irritated eyes

If you experience itchiness, blurred vision, red eyes, irritation or heaviness of eyelids, you may be suffering from dry eye syndrome. This condition happens when the lubrication in your eyes isn’t enough thus affecting the normal functioning of your eyes.

The good news is, if you know what is causing your dry eye syndrome, you may then be able to take proper steps to remedy it at home or if symptoms persists you can consult a doctor.

Whatever the case may be, here are seven reasons you may be suffering from the dry eye syndrome.

A bad diet can cause you to have eye problems. If you consume processed foods with lots of salt as well as alcoholic beverages, you will get dehydrated which in turn leads to dryness in the eyes. If your diet is also low on omega-3 fatty acids, you risk getting dry eyes. Omega-3 fatty acids help decrease inflammation in your eyes as well as the rest of the body. Eating mainly junk foods will reduce your omega-3 intake and thus affect your eyes.

The environment you live in may also cause your eye dryness. If you live in a highly populated area that is quite busy you are more likely to be exposed to pollutants in the air. Living with air conditioning units, windy or smoky environments as well as dry environments will cause eye dryness as it will lead to tear evaporation.

Blinking is quite important in ensuring that your eyes remain healthy. Normally, we blink about 18-20 times per minute. This drops to four blinks per minute when we are focusing on something that is near. When the blink rate is not enough, tears evaporate from the surface of our eyes causing tiny dry spots. Over some hours this leads to dry eye symptoms.

Contacts put you at a higher risk of dry eyes. This is because they use tears on the surface of your eye to stay hydrated all day long. Contacts also create a barrier that decreases the amount of oxygen getting to the eye. Your eyes are especially dry towards the end of the day.

A common symptom of people with diabetes is dry eyes. This is because diabetes impairs nerve function in the body especially in the cornea. The damage of the corneal nerves causes patients to have fewer tears on their ocular surface leading to the dryness.

Adult young women may experience dry eyes due to birth control pills and pregnancy. This is because the hormonal fluctuations caused by both decrease the production of tears leading to dry eye syndromes.

Medications made specifically to treat by reducing the amount of fluid in a certain body part do cause dry eyes. These medications include antidepressants, birth control pills, decongestants, antihistamines and medications for acne, high blood pressure and attention deficit disorder.