Top tips to keep your eyes healthy

Keep your eyes sparkling, hydrated and healthy with these handy tips.

Dry eye is a common and progressive condition affecting millions of people. It prevents them from doing the things they love, whether that’s reading, watching movies or doing leisure activities like hiking or bike riding. Fortunately, dry eye symptoms can be treated with remedies such as over-the-counter eye drops.

Causes
Dry eye can be caused by a variety of factors. The first is the production of tears, which plays an important role in eye health by spreading across the cornea, keeping eyes lubricated and helping to push away potentially harmful debris. Dry eye can occur when you don’t produce enough tears, or the tears you do produce either evaporate rapidly or are of poor quality.

Numerous environmental factors can also contribute to dry eye, as well as the use of digital devices, air conditioning, heat blowers and fans. Certain health conditions like diabetes, thyroid-associated diseases and immune system disorders can also play a role, along with extended contact lens use, refractive eye surgery and certain medications.

Symptoms
The symptoms of dry eye can run the gamut from being a minor inconvenience to having a major impact on your daily life and favourite activities. The five key symptoms of dry eye include: dryness, irritation, grittiness, burning and stinging. Other indicators include itchiness, tired eyes, blurred vision, excess tears and redness.

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