Sometimes, the gritty, scratchy, and burning sensation of dry eye just won’t go away. You reach for eye drops, but the relief is temporary. While drops can provide a quick fix, small changes to your daily routine can also make a significant difference in your comfort, especially when combined with a professional treatment plan.
Yes, simple adjustments to your diet and daily habits can help you find lasting relief from dry eye symptoms. By taking practical steps to soothe your eyes and working with an experienced optometrist, you can improve your overall eye health.
Why Your Eyes Feel Irritated
Before you can find relief, it helps to know what might be causing the discomfort. Dry eye happens when your tears do not adequately lubricate your eyes. This can be for a number of reasons, from your environment to your daily habits.
Common signs of dry eye include:
- A stinging or burning feeling in your eyes
- Scratchiness or a gritty sensation
- Stringy mucus in or around your eyes
- Sensitivity to light
- Redness
- Difficulty with nighttime driving
- Watery eyes—the body’s response to irritation
- Blurred vision or eye fatigue
Your surroundings and habits play a significant role in eye comfort. Factors such as extended screen time, which can lead to digital eye strain, air conditioning or heating, and windy or dry climates can all affect your tear film and worsen symptoms. You may notice your eyes feel worse after a long day at the computer or on a breezy afternoon.
How Your Diet Affects Your Tears
What you eat can influence your body’s functions, including tear production. Certain nutrients support eye health, while some people may find that certain foods may make their dry eye symptoms feel more intense.
Focus on incorporating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, like salmon, tuna, and walnuts. These healthy fats are important components of the oil layer of your tears. This layer helps prevent your tears from evaporating too quickly, keeping your eyes moist for longer.
Your tears are mostly water, which means hydration is essential. Staying well-hydrated throughout the day by drinking plenty of fluids is a simple yet effective step to support healthy tear production.
Lifestyle Changes for Dry Eye Relief
Beyond diet, small adjustments to your daily routine can provide substantial relief from dry eye symptoms. These simple changes include:
Adjust Your Screen Habits
When you focus on a screen, you tend to blink less. You can give your eyes a much-needed break by following the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. Also, remember to blink fully and often as you work.
Rethink Your Environment
A humidifier can add moisture to the air in your home or office, which helps slow tear evaporation. When you’re in the car, try to direct the air vents away from your face. A small change like this can reduce the direct airflow hitting your eyes and prevent tears from drying out.
Protect Your Eyes Outdoors
Outdoor environments can be a terrible strain on dry eye symptoms. Wear medical grade quality polarized sunglasses to shield your eyes from wind, dust, and the sun. All polaroids are not the same. Generic ones do not protect you from the harmful uv and in some instances can worsen cataracts and the retinal tissue. High quality polarized lenses are FDA regulated and approved. Only major manufacturers are FDA approved since these companies already make clear ophthalmic lenses.
In addition the manufacturing date affects the UV quality. Older branded sunglasses such as those from Amazon or Costco are not always the best quality as they are not licensed to sell the frames, which are often discontinued or older models. Hence the UV protection is not as good as current models.
Do not purchase discontinued sunglasses as they may do more harm than good. Imagine a dark lens, it opens your pupil larger and if it does not block all the UV light, which can make you more prone to cataracts and macular degeneration.
Sunglasses in general act also as a simple barrier that helps keep your tears where they belong, on your eyes, especially when you’re outside on a blustery day.
When Diet and Lifestyle Aren’t Enough
While these changes can improve comfort, they may not be enough to resolve persistent symptoms. If your dry eye continues to affect your daily life, it may be time to seek a professional evaluation to find the source of the problem.
A comprehensive eye exam can help identify the specific cause of your dry eye. Your optometrist can assess your tear production and quality to develop a personalized approach.
We offer many professional treatments to address dry eye symptoms and provide targeted relief. For mild dry eye, it could be as easy as eye drops or eyelid cleaning. Procedures like OptiLight by Lumenis can help manage severe inflammation and improve gland function.
Build a Complete Eye Health Plan
Managing dry eye is just one part of your overall eye health. A proactive approach involves a partnership with an eye care professional who understands your unique needs and lifestyle.
Regular check-ups are key. During your visit, we can discuss your symptoms, health history, and daily habits. We can perform specific tests to evaluate your eyes and tear film. From there, we’ll present you with a clear plan to help manage your symptoms and protect your vision.
If you’re ready to find a solution for your eye discomfort, the team at Danville Optometric Group is ready to help.
Schedule a visit today to explore a plan for your eye health.
