Have Dry Eyes at Night or When You Wake Up? Here’s Why Denise Mann, MS
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Dry eye 101
Dry eyes at night or in the morning can drive you to distraction. Instead focusing on your computer, a book, or the person you re talking to, you might end up squinting through blurry vision or rubbing itchy eyes.
Those are common reactions to a very common condition. Nearly 5 million Americans ages 50 and older experience dry eye symptoms, with tens of millions more living with less-severe symptoms, according to the National Eye Institute.
Pretty much anyone can develop dry eyes, but the condition is more common if you re female, older than 50, wear contact lenses, or have certain underlying autoimmune conditions, like lupus or Sjögren s syndrome, which can cause your body to misfire against the glands that make tears and saliva.
The Best Contacts for Dry Eyes, According to Doctors Denise Mann, MS
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Living with dry eye
If you are one of the millions of people who live with dry eyes, you know the condition is literally something to cry over: In an ironic turn, the condition can lead to excess tears.
Contact lens wearers know all too well that the lenses can aggravate dry eye symptoms. But you shouldn t have to sacrifice your vision to relieve your dry eyes.
Marked by stinging, eye fatigue, red eyes, sensitivity to light, blurry vision, and reliance on artificial tears, dry eye takes its toll on quality of life.
7 Dry Eye Treatments That Will Help You Feel Better Fast Denise Mann, MS
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Sometimes your eyes sting so much that you never want to stop rubbing your eyeballs. The burning can feel like sandy grit is in your eyes, and this can cause eye fatigue, red eyes, sensitivity to light, and blurry vision, says Angela Bevels, an optometrist who runs Elite Dry Eye Spa in Tucson, Arizona. That s what life is like for the millions of people who live with dry eye.
Dry eye is much more than just a nuisance, she says. When you are dealing with it every day, you use eye drops all day, your eyes are always red, and it really affects your quality of life. When it s really bad, it can also impair your productivity at work and at home, according to a 2020 study published in the journal