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If you experience gritty, irritated, or burning eyes and these symptoms get worse as the day goes on, you are probably one of the millions of people with a problem called “dry eye”.
Dry Eye Syndrome (DES) or Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca, is a very common condition that increases with age and affects 2 to 3 times more women than men.
What causes dry eye syndrome?
You suffer from dry eyes if the tear film on the surface of your eyes loses water either through decreased tear production or increased evaporation, meaning that your eyes are not sufficiently lubricated to remain comfortable. As evaporation continues throughout the day, your eyes feel drier and drier.
The balance of the tear film components can change in certain situations, as explained below. If this occurs, environmental factors may become more important as causes of uncomfortable, dry feeling eyes.
Causes of dry eyes
Dry eye can be caused by a range of medical and/or environmental factors:
- Dry environment and windy weather: central heating or air conditioning can increase the evaporation of tears and windy weather can exacerbate the feeling of tired, irritating eyes.
- Wearing contact lenses or doing anything that reduces blinking may make your eyes more uncomfortable, such as watching TV or using a computer screen.
- Ageing: dry feeling eyes are more prevalent in people aged 45+ due to reduced tear production.
- Hormonal changes: women in particular can become more susceptible to dry feeling eyes when they approach the menopause.
- Medication: certain prescription and over the counter medicines can lead to a reduction in wetting of the eye surface, particularly hormone treatments like the contraceptive pill and HRT.
- Poor diet: supplementing your diet with vitamins, minerals and essential oils have been shown to help with dry feeling eyes.
- Post operations: patients who have undergone eye, facial, ear, or brain operations can suffer varying degrees of temporary paralysis of the face including reduced ability to blink.
Wearing wraparound goggles
The NHS gives some simple practical advice on what you can do to prevent or alleviate dry eye symptoms. This includes wearing wraparound glasses / goggles to protect your eyes from wind or hot air.
Several models in the Dixon Eyewear range are supplied with a soft foam gasket that helps to keep wind and dust from entering your eyes. They can be particularly effective when worn with a headband, which helps to pull the gasket tighter to create a closer seal around your eye sockets.
Models with a removable gasket include:
We have had particularly good feedback from customers who have bought the RX TAC-3 and found it provides good protection for their eyes from the wind.
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