Corneal damage after misusing eye drops?! If your eyes are itchy or dry, beware of "dry eye syndrome" and receive regular treatment!

Staying up late to browse the phone, working on the computer for long hours, wearing contact lenses and cosmetic lenses...

Many people's eye habits and ways of using eyes make their eyes cry out: "Master, I want to rest!"

If you often feel dry eyes and eye fatigue, it means your eyes have started to fight back! At this time, you should be alert to eye health problems and pay attention to whether you have been visited by "dry eye syndrome".

Recently, the ophthalmology department of Xi'an High-tech Hospital received a friend who always felt dry eyes and even itchy after staying up late to play games for a long time. He bought eye drops online and the symptoms were relieved immediately. Whenever his eyes were uncomfortable, this eye drops could make him "instantly comfortable", and if he didn't use eye drops, the symptoms would be worse!

After visiting the hospital, after examination and diagnosis, it was found that his cornea was damaged and the dryness was not simply visual fatigue, but was diagnosed as "dry eye syndrome". This story tells us that if you have eye discomfort, you should seek medical attention in time and never diagnose and solve it yourself. Although dry eye syndrome may sound like a minor disease, it is not the case.

Causes of dry eyes

Under normal circumstances, the surface of our cornea is covered with a layer of tear film. This tear film is mainly divided into three layers, from the outside to the inside, the lipid layer, the aqueous layer and the mucin layer. Together, they ensure the stability of the tear film on the ocular surface and moisturize and protect the ocular surface. Any abnormality in any layer of the structure will affect the stability of the tear film.

Therefore, when various reasons cause this layer of tear film to be unable to stay stably on the ocular surface, the ocular surface cells that lose the protection of the tear film will be damaged, and symptoms such as dry eyes, foreign body sensation, burning sensation, photophobia, blurred vision, etc. will appear, and dry eyes will form.

Common causes of dry eyes

1. Staring at the screen for a long time

When looking at a mobile phone or computer, the attention is highly focused, and the number of blinks is often reduced. In addition, the exposure of the ocular surface increases, and the tears evaporate too quickly. Long-term use of the eyes can also lead to meibomian gland dysfunction, which reduces the lipids in the outermost layer of the "tear film", further accelerating the evaporation of tears. Staring at the electronic screen for a long time will cause the eye muscles to continue to contract, which will lead to symptoms of visual fatigue.

2. Wearing contact lenses

Long-term and unreasonable wearing of contact lenses will reduce corneal sensitivity and reduce the number of blinks. Reduced blinking will lead to lipid secretion disorders in the meibomian glands, and tears will evaporate too quickly because they lose the protection of oil. Substandard contact lenses will also increase mechanical friction on the ocular surface and damage the ocular surface structure.

3. Dry working environment

Most offices have air conditioners on, which creates strong airflow and low humidity, which accelerates the evaporation of tears on the eye surface and aggravates dry eye symptoms.

4. Mental stress and anxiety

Long-term tension and anxiety can easily lead to abnormal nerve function and aggravate eye discomfort symptoms.

5. Bad habits and behaviors

Poor eating habits, lack of outdoor exercise, long-term lack of sleep, long-term driving, and abuse of eye drops are all risk factors for dry eyes.

What to do if dry eyes occur

First of all, we should correct various risk factors that cause dry eyes as much as possible, and secondly, receive regular treatment under the guidance of a doctor.

1. Reduce the time of using video terminals

If office workers cannot avoid using electronic products due to work reasons, they must remember to take frequent breaks during work. It is recommended that after every 20 minutes of close-up use of the eyes, you should take a 20-second break by looking into the distance 20 meters away.

2. Increase the frequency of effective blinking

Not blinking or blinking incompletely for a long time will not only reduce the production of tear film, but also make the tears evaporate faster, causing the eyes to become drier. Therefore, we should change bad eye habits and increase the number of effective blinks (close your eyes lightly for 2 seconds → close your eyes hard for 2 seconds → open your eyes for 2 seconds, repeat for 1 minute, 10 times a day).

3. Increase outdoor activities

Proper exercise can not only enhance immunity, but also have a positive regulating effect on psychology. Active exercise can reduce the frequency of video terminal use and alleviate dry eye symptoms.

4. Avoid wearing contact lenses for a long time

Nowadays, contact lenses and cosmetic lenses are becoming more and more popular among beauty lovers. However, long-term use will prevent the cornea from contacting the air and isolate the cornea from the tear film, resulting in lack of oxygen and water on the surface of the eye. Moreover, if the lenses are not properly cleaned and cared for before wearing, it may cause many eye diseases, such as keratitis, conjunctivitis, etc.

5. Increase the humidity of the ambient air

Long-term use of air conditioning will make the environment dry and tears evaporate faster. If you use air conditioning every day, it is easy to cause dry eye surface. In addition, when the air is dry during the season change, the eyes are also prone to dry symptoms. In these cases, we can place a humidifier around us to increase the humidity of the air and prevent dry eyes.

6.Appropriate heat

Hot compress can improve the function of meibomian glands. It is recommended to apply hot compress 1 to 2 times a day, 10 to 15 minutes each time, and the temperature should be controlled at around 40°C.

7. Others

Develop good eating habits, ensure a balanced diet every day, try not to be picky eaters, avoid high-fat diets, eat more light, vitamin-rich foods. Ensure adequate sleep time and maintain a happy mood.

If the dry eye symptoms still cannot be relieved after trying the above methods, do not use eye drops at will, please go to the hospital in time for professional diagnosis and treatment. We can treat it in the following ways.

Treatment of dry eyes

1. Supplement artificial tears

It is mainly used to treat aqueous-deficient dry eyes, and its therapeutic effect is limited.

2. Physical cleaning of eyelids

It effectively removes colonies and mites at the root of eyelashes, eyelid debris and solidified secretions that block the opening of the meibomian gland duct, and helps the secretions to be discharged from the gland duct.

3. Dry eye physical therapy

Fumigation atomization: melts the accumulated denatured lipids for easy discharge, softens the skin at the eyelid margin, helps the meibomian gland openings to expand, and allows smooth discharge of lipids.

4. Meibomian gland massage

By increasing pressure, it promotes the discharge of thick secretions in the meibomian glands, thereby eliminating obstruction of the meibomian glands.

5. Laser pulse therapy

It can block the abnormally dilated blood vessels at the eyelid margin, reduce the input of inflammatory mediators, and reduce the growth of eyelid bacteria and mites.

Kind tips

Here we would like to remind everyone that some wrong behaviors may cause dry eyes!

First, abuse of eye drops

Many young people will buy some eye drops when they have eye discomfort, especially some "Internet celebrity" eye drops. Although these eye drops can relieve dry eyes in a short period of time, if they are abused for a long time, it is like drinking poison to quench thirst. Because most eye drops contain preservatives, long-term use will damage the ocular surface cells, which will affect the formation of tear film and aggravate dry eyes.

Second, incorrect heat

First of all, we should be clear about the main purpose of hot compress. Hot compress is to use heat to melt the blocked meibomian gland lipids, improve the function of the meibomian glands, and make the outermost layer of the tear film on the eye surface have a healthy "oil" to reduce tear evaporation. Some patients listened to the doctor's advice and felt that hot compress was good, so they always insisted on it no matter what the situation was. As everyone knows, too much is as bad as too little. In some cases, hot compress cannot be used. For example, in acute inflammatory reactions such as obvious redness and swelling of the eyes and increased secretions, hot compress must not be used. In addition, hot compress should not be used when wearing contact lenses. Moreover, people with sensitive skin and skin damage around the eyes should not use hot compress.

Steam eye masks are popular among young people and are effective in relieving dry eyes. Many people think that the higher the temperature and the longer the duration, the better the effect, and even wear eye masks to sleep. This is wrong. In order to avoid epidermal damage, doctors recommend that the appropriate hot compress temperature is 40°C, not exceeding 45°C, and the hot compress time should not exceed 15 minutes.

Although dry eye is an eye disease, it can be prevented and treated. As long as you stick to the right method, dry eye will stay away from you.