After the Spring Festival, many people who spend too much time looking down on their phones have developed dry eyes

Reluctant to Blink

After the holidays, many "head-down tribes" suffered from dry eyes

After the Spring Festival, the ocular surface and corneal disease department of Wuhan University Aier Eye Hospital (Aier Eye Hospital Group Hubei General Hospital) has been flooded with patients seeking treatment. Many patients said that their eyes had problems after the Spring Festival. Common symptoms include dry eyes and a foreign body sensation, as well as burning and itching sensations, photophobia, congestion, pain, blurred vision, fatigue, and sticky secretions.

Chen Xiangxi, a doctor, associate chief physician, secretary of the Cornea and Ocular Surface Group of Aier Eye Hospital Group, and deputy director of the Ocular Surface and Corneal Disease Department of Aier Eye Hospital Affiliated to Wuhan University (Aier Eye Hospital Group Hubei General Hospital), said that winter is the peak season for dry eye syndrome. During the Spring Festival, regardless of gender, age or status, everyone is either busy grabbing red envelopes and watching TV series, or busy playing with mobile phones and playing games.

"When these 'head-down tribe' stare at electronic screens, their eyes will enter a 'focused' state without blinking, and they will unconsciously reduce the number of blinks, which will reduce the lipid secretion of the meibomian glands. In addition, if people 'incompletely blink', that is, each blink fails to completely cover the entire cornea, resulting in a decrease in the quality of blinking, the lipid discharge will not be strong enough, which will also reduce the secretion of lipids. Due to the lack of lipid protection, the stability of the tear film is weakened, and tear evaporation is intensified, leading to dry eyes."

Director Chen Xiangxi reminded that you must rest your eyes after the holidays, do not use electronic products for a long time, and do not stay up late. At the same time, you should pay attention to eye hygiene, blink frequently, eat less greasy and spicy foods, and pay attention to environmental moisturizing.

Dry eyes get worse the longer you wait

Early treatment is key

"Despite the high incidence rate and wide range of patients, many people do not know that 'dry eyes' is a disease and have no awareness of seeking medical treatment." Director Chen Xiangxi pointed out that due to lack of knowledge, many patients suffer from moderate to severe dry eyes due to delayed treatment. Moderate to severe dry eyes cause repeated inflammation of the eyes due to dryness, damage to the cornea, and may eventually affect vision.

Wu Shangcao, deputy chief physician and deputy director of the Department of Ocular Surface and Corneal Diseases at the Aier Eye Hospital Affiliated to Wuhan University (Aier Eye Hospital Group Hubei Headquarters), emphasized that the causes of dry eyes are complex. In addition to long-term use of electronic products, lack of sleep, eye makeup, long-term wearing of contact lenses, mental and psychological factors, environmental pollution, systemic diseases, etc. may all cause dry eyes. Therefore, in the diagnosis of dry eyes, it is very important to accurately distinguish the type of dry eyes and "prescribe the right medicine"!