Home Remedies for Dry Eyes That You Can Try

Do you feel like your eyes are dry and irritated? Having dry eyes mean that you aren’t producing as much tears as your eyes need. Don’t worry, there are simple home remedies for dry eyes that you can try.

You should take note that your eyes need to be constantly moist or lubricated for it to be healthy and well protected. And similar to other common eye problems, Irritation and discomfort occurs when your eyes dry up.

Do you have dry eye syndrome?

You have dry eye syndrome when your eyes dry up and feel very irritated. This usually happens when your eyes don’t produce the right quality or right amount of tears.

If you think you have dry eyes, you should be able to relate to the following symptoms:

• Itchy feeling in the eyes
• Dry and sticky sensation
• Slight pain whenever you blink
• Redness
• Mucus or eye boogers
• Sensitivity to light
• Blurry vision

What causes your dry eyes?

If you feel like you have the symptoms of dry eyes, you should take note of the following possible causes of your condition.

• Getting Old

As you get older, the hormones in your body eventually start to change and can lead to minor complications such as dry eyes.

• Getting Medication

You’d be surprised to know that dry eye is a common side effect that comes from generic medicines. Dry eye is a side effect because some medications reduce the amount of tears that you produce or change the quality of your tears.

• Environmental Factors

The place where you live, work, or play may be the reason why you have dry eyes. Even the climate of your country plays a factor.

The smoke and dust that you are exposed to can eventually lead to the deterioration of your eye health. A dry climate can also increase the evaporation of your tears which causes dry eyes.

• Constant use of contact lens

Your eyes may gradually dry up when you use your contact lenses for very long periods of time. Contact lens users who have dry eyes have it worse because their become more painful when the contacts scratch and irritate the eyes.

Remember to keep your contact lenses clean to prevent bothersome eye problems.

Simple home remedies for your dry eyes

Dry eyes don’t usually last long, but if you find the discomfort to be bothersome you can check out the following quick fixes that we’ve prepared. These simple home remedies for your dry eyes will surely do the trick.

1. Protect yourself from your environment

With all the dust, smoke, and pollution that may be lingering around, environmental factors could definitely make your dry eyes worse.

According to this study, smoking can be a factor as to why the general public is prone to dry eyes. So remember, you should always stay away from cigarette smoke.

You can also add a humidifier at home, you could really mend your dry eyes with some additional moisture in the air.

Protective Eyewear

You can also wear protective eyewear when you work in a smoke-filled environment. You can find specialized protection glasses that are built for specific hazardous environments.

2. Add fatty acids to your diet

You can add fatty acids to your diet to help you deal with your dry eyes. You’d be amazed to find out that research shows that omega-3 fatty acids can alleviate the your dry eye symptoms.

According to a study about omega-3 fatty acid and dry eyes, 65% of their control group patients who took omega-3 showed clear improvements of their dry eye syndrome.

And as a conclusion, omega-3 fatty acids really do play an important part in treating dry eyes.

The Fatty acids that you eat reduces inflammation in your body. So, it helps with your dry eyes because it lessens the inflammation in your eyes. And with less inflammation, your tears can produce more high quality tears to stay healthy.

How do you add omega-3 fatty acids to your diet?

Simple, just get some omega-3 supplements, or eat foods that have plenty of omega-3 fatty acids, such as:

• Palm oil
• Soybean oil
• Flaxseed oil
• Chia seeds
• Walnuts
• Eggs
• Salmon
• Tuna
• Mackerel
• Sardines

3. Use eye drops or ointments

You don’t really have to look far to get eye products that can help with your dry eyes. There are a lot of nonprescription products that you can purchase from pharmacies.

A study by Cochrane Systematic Review shows that over-the-counter artificial tears that you can easily buy are an effective tool to heal your dry eye syndrome.

You can use eye drops to act as artificial tears for your eyes. Eye drops are an easy and quick way to relieve your pain and discomfort, just remember to bring it when you leave the house.

Preservatives in eye drops

You should taken note that eye drops have preservatives in them. The preservatives help prevent bacteria from growing after you open the eye drops.

So, if your eyes don’t feel good when you use eye drops, you should look for the ones that are preservative-free.

Ointments

In comparison to eye drops, ointments are much thicker and are made to coat your eyeballs. The thicker coating helps keep your eyes moist for a long period of time.

But you should take note that ointments can affect your vision when you use them. So it would be best if you apply ointments before your bedtime and use eye drops during the day.

4. See a doctor for your dry eyes

If your dry eyes continue to get worse even after you’ve tried our simple home remedies for your dry eyes, then you should see an eye doctor.

Normally, you won’t need to get your dry eyes checked by a professional. But when you feel like the home remedies aren’t helping your eyes, it could be an indicator that your eyes have more serious condition.

You should be aware of your body and if you feel like your eyes have gotten worse, then you should never hesitate to seek professional care. It’s always best to avoid having your condition worsen because of neglect.

If you have the following symptoms, then you should contact and eye doctor as soon as you can:

• Persistent redness
• Intense swelling
• Unbearable pain
• Eye injury
• Unusual amount of eye discharge
• Swelling joints
• Dry mouth

Dry eye doesn’t usually last long enough for you to be alarmed. It’s even a natural reaction to that your body makes as you get older. However, there are rare occasions when dry eye is caused by a more severe condition.

So just try these home remedies for a week or so, and see a doctor if you don’t find any results.

How to Prevent Dry Eyes Condition?

Our simple home remedies for your dry eyes may not be applicable if you don’t have dry eyes yet. But don’t worry, you’re in the right track. And as a bonus, here are a few simple habits that can help you avoid dry eyes.

1. Avoid strong airflows

Tiny particles float around the air in our environment, so the stronger the airflow, the more specs of dust are likely to harm your eyes.

You should try to avoid long exposures to hair dryers, fans, or air conditioners. You can also wear sunglasses when it’s windy outside.

2. Let your eyes rest

You should try to limit the amount of time you spend watching screens. The light in your television, computer, and cellphone can strain your eyes if you’re not careful.

You should always take some time to stare away from any type of screens whenever you can. This article tells you how digital devices are the number one cause of eye strain. A few minutes away from bright screens can help your eyes recover and moisturize.

3. Avoid harmful smoke

You should avoid constant exposure to any kind of smoke. Places with a lot of cigarette smoke can make your eyes dry and feel irritated. You should never forget to wear protective eyewear if you work in a smoky or dusty environment.

4. Use a warm compress

You can use a warm compress to wash your eyelids. If you want to wash your eyes with with soap, then you can use baby shampoo instead. This will help release the oil buildup in the glands of your eyelids.

This simple home remedy can enhance the quality of your tears as well as help freshen you up. After washing your eyes, always make sure that you’ve rinsed out all the soap as it may irritate your sensitive eyes.

SOURCES:

Is Your Medication Causing Dry Eye

https://www.webmd.com/eye-health/medication-cause-dry-eye#1

A randomized controlled trial of omega-3 fatty acids in dry eye syndrome

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3874521/

Smoking and the risk of dry eye: a Meta-analysis

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5075666/

Over the counter (OTC) artificial tear drops for dry eye syndrome

https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD009729.pub2/full