What is dry eye disease?
Dry eye is more than the occasional gritty feeling. Here is what is actually happening on the surface of your eye.
Read guideDry eye doesn’t always feel “dry.” One of the most confusing things about it is that watery, streaming eyes are a classic symptom, because the eye over-produces reflex tears to compensate for a poor-quality tear film.
Common symptoms
- Grittiness, like a fine bit of sand in the eye
- Burning or stinging
- Vision that blurs and then clears when you blink
- Tired, heavy eyes, especially by the end of the day
- Watering, particularly in wind or air-conditioning
Can dry eye affect your vision?
Yes. The tear film is the first surface light passes through, and when it breaks up between blinks the image smears. The tell-tale pattern is vision that fluctuates: sharp right after a blink, soft a few seconds later, and worse at the end of a screen-heavy day. New glasses won’t fix it, because the problem sits in front of the lens, not behind it. Our guide on dry eyes and blurred vision explains the mechanism and how to tell tear-film blur from blur that needs urgent attention.
Common causes
Blocked oil glands in the eyelids are the single biggest driver. Screen time (which cuts your blink rate), contact lenses, air-conditioning, certain medications, hormonal changes and age all add to the load.
If this sounds familiar, a proper assessment can pin down which factors are at play. Browse clinics by state.