I can tell that the Summer of 2018 is well and truly behind us, just from what my patients are telling me! With cooler weather and the impact of heating and air conditioning, there are far more complaints about watery eyes, which often manifests as dry eye. This can lead to or exacerbate other issues such as blepharitis.

Looking After Your Eyes 

I often tell patients to think about how they regularly look after their skin in the cold weather and the measures taken to prevent itchy, flaky, red and sore skin. By using some sort of barrier or moisturiser will protect as well and hydrate the surface of your skin. There are very close similarities in the way our eyes can be affected in the same environments. The cornea has a top layer which can also “flake” if it is dry and this can be very sore if it goes untreated or gets worse. You would moisturise your skin and hands daily, but do you use eyedrops to moisturise your eyes? For most people, the answer is probably a no.

What Happens To Your Eyes When They Become Dry

The eyelid skin is very thin and can also become sore and flaky, for some people this can even lead to puffy eyes.

If you have watery eyes, dry eyes, red eyes or sore eyes, these ideally need to be assessed and examined first so you can use the best treatment for you. If you already have dry skin, eczema or blepharitis, it is very likely that the winter weather will be a challenging time for skin and eyes.

Top Tips For Managing Dry Eyes

To best manage dry eyes I would recommend

• Using an eye drop to protect and lubricate the surface of your eyes. Always make it is preservative free (we keep these in stock!)
• Make this part of your normal daily routine…aim for twice a day. This makes a ‘flare up’ of symptoms far less likely and a good way to manage your symptoms.
• Use a heat mask once a week if needed to ‘boost’ the natural oils in the eyelids.
• Have a blepharitis assessment which can identify if BlephEx would be a good treatment to promote healthy eye lids and in turn a better tear film.

If you want to know more about blepharitis and our Dry Eye Clinic click here. Or ask for more information on your next visit.