Chronic Dry Eyes affecting your Life
Does this sound familiar? Imagine you have a blind date one evening and your dressed up, looking hot and look in the mirror and staring back at you are two severely red eyes and your first thought is “argh. I look like a hot mess”. This happens throughout your day at the office, at after work events, and after a couple hours on the computer.
You can reach for popular eye drops to “get the red out” but you know relying on that only makes the problem worse and that you’re issue isn’t going away, no matter how much sleep you get.
Well, that’s basically my chronic dry eyes story! Can one have ‘clear eye” envy? Seriously, is that a thing? Cuz I got that! My ‘demon eyes’. That’s what I’ve taken to referring to my dry eyes lately. Chronically red, very dry, sometimes painful and always super embarrassing. That’s what I deal with every single day with my dry eye syndrome.
In the past I’ve also experience such hypersensitivity to light it was brutally painful to open my eyes. Thank you aging, Canadian cold winters, and probably LASIK.
What is dry eye syndrome?
Dry eye syndrome or dry eye disease in the simpliest terms is what happens when your eyes don’t make the right quantity or quality of tears to properly lubricate and moisturizer the eyes’ surface.
Dry eye syndrome symptoms can include:
- Burning sensation
- Itchy eyes
- Heavy eyes
- Fatigued eyes
- Sore eyes
- Dryness sensation
- Red eyes
- Sensitive to light
- Blurred vision ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Is there a cure to dry eyes?
Nope. Looks like I gotta live with my demon eyes for forevah! (Cue: legit bawling)
Dry eye syndrome is brutal y’all and it’s just not cute. I feel it’s gotten worse over the years because of aging, laser eye surgery and too much screen time.
On a recent visit to my Optomitrist, she suggested I try:
- eye drops 3-4 times a day; and
- Omega 3 vitamins ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
How I take care of my dry eyes
Since there’s no cure I’ve been changing up my lifestyle a bit to help ease the unpleasantness that comes with always looking like I haven’t slept or have been crying for 10 years. Argh.
Here are some practical ways I’m taking care of my dry eyes and finding some relief:
- Lubricating eye drops. First thing when I wake and throughout the day.
- Eye Compress. I’m also trying these rather stylish Heyedrate Compress from Eye Love the Sun and the Medi Beads Eye Compress by Bruder to hope provide some much needed relief and hydration. ⠀
- Screen Time. My reduction in screen time at night;
- Omega 3 vitamins; and
- Air Care: I’ve also been using a humidifier at night which helps with the dryness of the air in my bedroom.
I’m rolling with the punches of this thing called life. When it comes to dealing with my chronic dry eyes I’ve been reading what I can about dry eyes and practising gratitude because in the grand scheme of things, I can’t complain because I’ve got my sight and fairly healthy eyes (I visit my Optomitrist for regular checkups) and for that I truly am grateful.
Swagger & Greys 