Sometimes the treatments for eye allergies can lead to a condition known as Dry Eye, especially if oral anti-histamines are used, and not the more favored topical anti-histamine drops.

What is dry eye and what are its symptoms?  As the name implies, dry eye is a condition which causes acute eye discomfort due to lack of moisture in the eye, some of the signs of dry eye are listed below.

Signs and Symptoms of Dry Eye.

  1. Burning Sensation. The natural tear serves to lubricate the eye, when the tear duct breaks down and no tears are produced, the surface of the eye’s cornea dries up. The nerve filled cornea sends impulses to the brain which translates it as an acute burning sensation.
  2. Eye Itchiness. Dry eye causes eye irritation which in turn produces eye itching, this can also be associated with eye allergies which are commonly treated with anti-histamines, which can have the side effect of causing dry eye!
  3. Eye Redness. Is a sure sign of eye inflammation resulting from the eye being short of moisture. The natural tears contain nutrients for the eye, and if there is nutrient starvation, the eye becomes red and inflamed.
  4. Presence of a Foreign Body. Dry eye often gives the feeling of having something in the eye, like a piece of grit or sand, again this is symptomatic of the eye not having enough moisture, paradoxically the message received by the brain is to produce more moisture to flush out the non existent foreign object, which it does, leading to excess tears.
  5. Excessive Tear Production. The term dry eye can be confusing since one of the symptoms of the condition is excessive tears. This is simply because the tear duct overcompensates for the dry condition in an effort to keep the eye moist, fed and to flush out any apparent foreign matter.
  6. Blurred Vision. Tears engender a smooth optical surface refracting the incoming light rays to the optical nerve, but as the eye is dry, the eye’s surface is not regular and the light rays are not refracted correctly, thus blurred vision occurs.

There may be occasions when the sufferer has a much increased blinking rate, this is due to the fact that blinking encourages tear production, so dry eye can also cause a person to blink more frequently.

Tags: , , ,