Dry eyes come with their share of symptoms and side effects. Some of those symptoms can negatively impact your eyes and vision. Treatment and management measures become imperative to prevent the condition from progressing into something more severe.
If ignored for long, dry eyes can even lead to permanent vision damage, possibly even loss of vision. In this blog, we will discuss how dry eyes affect your vision and what you can do to prevent damage.
Understanding Dry Eye Syndrome
Dry eye syndrome refers to an eye condition in which your eyes either produce insufficient tears or tears that evaporate too quickly. Tears are essential to help keep your eyes amply lubricated, and protect them from tiny dust particles or any other foreign objects that may inevitably enter them. Any kind of foreign substance can lead to an eye infection or damage to the outermost layer of the eye.
If left untreated for long, dry eye syndrome poses a risk of multiple side effects, which in turn can result in a compromised quality of life. While dry eye syndrome doesn’t commonly lead to vision loss or permanent vision deterioration, temporary changes are very prevalent and cause significant distress in normal life activities.
Impact of Dry Eye Syndrome on Vision
Dry eyes can impact many aspects of your visual functioning, even when you have previously had perfect eyesight. Two of the most common and direct consequences are blurred vision and sensitivity to light.
Blurred Vision
This is a common complication that accompanies the dry eye syndrome. Blurred vision can mean hazy vision, and also includes halos & glare around lights in dimly lit environments. Damage caused to the front part of your eyes due to dry eyes can result in blurry vision.
Your eyes’ tear film is the outermost thin liquid layer, which can get damaged due to dry eyes. A damaged tear film can then result in vision fluctuation when you blink, causing a glare. In a 2019 study, 58% of people affected by chronic dry eye reported symptoms of moderate to severely blurred vision.
Sensitivity to Light
Insufficient lubrication makes the cornea more sensitive to light. This is known as photophobia or light sensitivity. When the eye surface is already irritated, exposure to light can lead to increased sensitivity and discomfort.
Dry Eyes Treatment
Dry eyes treatment and management strategies typically involve:
- Over- the-counter eye drops for lubrication
- Prescription eye drops, gels, ointments
- Using a humidifier at home
- Avoiding windy environments
- Increasing water intake
- Getting 7 or more hours of sleep
- Reducing screen time
- Warm compression on closed eyes
- Lipiflow therapy
- IPL therapy
When to Visit a Doctor?
You must schedule an appointment with an ophthalmologist if you experience blurriness, irritation, excessive watering or redness in eyes; your vision is impacted in any other way, or if your dry eyes are causing you significant distress.
Book an appointment at Sohana Hospital and consult the best eye specialist in Mohali for the most advanced and personalised dry eyes treatment.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is dry eye?
It is an eye condition that occurs when there is inadequate tear formation in your eyes, the tears evaporate too quickly, or the quality of tears is not good enough to support proper lubrication in the eyes. When your eyes do not get enough moisture, they are not able to function at their best. They may feel dry, itchy, red, or excessively watery giving you blurred vision and disrupting your normal life.
2. Can dry eyes cause blindness?
Not always. Blindness or vision loss due to dry eye syndrome is very rare. In the rare cases that it does happen, the blindness is due to repeated and irreversible severe damage to the cornea.
3. How to cure dry eyes permanently?
There is no permanent cure for dry eyes, but the condition can be effectively managed. Long-lasting treatments at Sohana Eye Hospital include punctal plugs, Lipiflow therapy, and IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) therapy. Treatment for dry eyes aims at unclogging the blocked oil glands to help restore natural lubrication and reduce inflammation for long-lasting relief.
4. How to avoid dry eyes?
To avoid dry eyes, you should follow healthy eye habits: take regular breaks from screens or follow the 20-20-20 rule, blink more often, stay hydrated, and avoid smoky or windy environments. Apart from that, you can use a humidifier in dry weather, eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and wear sunglasses when outdoors. Regular eye checkups can help detect and manage eye dryness before it worsens.
