It’s the end of a long day and your whole body is feeling tired – especially your eyes. All day they’ve been stinging and itching and feeling dry, and it has taken a lot of willpower to keep from constantly rubbing them.
If this sounds like you, then you might be one of the millions of Americans suffering from dry eye disease.
Dry eye is one of the most common ocular diseases in the United States and can present in different ways.
Other symptoms which frequently afflict those with dry eye include redness, burning, frequent blinking, watery eyes, blurry vision, and the sensation of something being stuck in your eye.1
What is Dry Eye Disease?
Dry Eye Disease (DED) is a chronic condition wherein your eyes are not being adequately hydrated or are drying off too quickly.
Several environmental conditions can trigger temporary dry eyes, such as wind, low humidity, and airborne pollutants or allergens. However, the actual disorder of “dry eye” is due to a long-term problem with keeping your eyes moist.
Normally, your eyes are kept wet and clean by tears produced from the lacrimal glands behind your upper eyelids. As you blink these tears are wiped down across your eyes, washing away debris and pathogens. This moisture is held in place by a special layer of lipids (oils) and proteins that maintain surface tension. This layer of lipids and proteins is produced by the meibomian glands along the edges of your eyelids.2
In the case of dry eye, something is either preventing enough tears from being made or is disrupting the secretion of the protective lipid layer, causing moisture to evaporate too quickly. When insufficient water content is produced or when it dries up too quickly, the salt content in your eyes becomes concentrated, causing irritation.
And since your eyes are no longer lubricated, they are unable to clear away chemicals and microbes that can damage your eyes.3
What Causes Dry Eye?
Generally, anything that causes stress and inflammation in your eyes or eyelids can give rise to dry eye disease.
Inflammation around your eyes can cause dysfunction of the glands that secrete tears and their protective lipid layer. This inflammation can be due to a number of different factors such as:
- skin disorders,
- bacterial or viral infections,
- or infestations of Demodex mites (eyelash mites).4
How Can I Find Relief?
If you have dry eye, it is important to address it before the vicious cycle of inflammation becomes too severe.
Keeping your eyes clean is crucial for addressing underlying ocular disorders as well as managing dry eye symptoms.
Cliradex has formulated eyelid cleansers to help you do that. Cliradex can be used as part of your daily hygiene routine to clear your eyes of pathogens and irritants and keep your glands unclogged.
They contain 4-terpineol, the most important ingredient in tea tree essential oil. This natural compound has mite-killing activities.5,6
With the help of Cliradex, you can clear a wide range of infections and get a handle dry eye discomfort.
Resources:
1. Farrand KF, Fridman M, Stillman IÖ, Schaumberg DA. Prevalence of Diagnosed Dry Eye Disease in the United States Among Adults Aged 18 Years and Older. American journal of ophthalmology. 2017;182(Supplement C):90-98.
2. Tiffany JM. The normal tear film. Developments in ophthalmology. 2008;41:1-20.
3. Milner MS, Beckman KA, Luchs JI, et al. Dysfunctional tear syndrome: dry eye disease and associated tear film disorders – new strategies for diagnosis and treatment. Current opinion in ophthalmology. 2017;27 Suppl 1:3-47.
4. Mizoguchi S, Iwanishi H, Arita R, et al. Ocular surface inflammation impairs structure and function of meibomian gland. Experimental eye research. 2017;163:78-84.
5. Nogueira MN, Aquino SG, Rossa Junior C, Spolidorio DM. Terpinen-4-ol and alpha-terpineol (tea tree oil components) inhibit the production of IL-1beta, IL-6 and IL-10 on human macrophages. Inflammation research : official journal of the European Histamine Research Society [et al]. 2014;63(9):769-778.
6. Tighe S, Gao YY, Tseng SC. Terpinen-4-ol is the Most Active Ingredient of Tea Tree Oil to Kill Demodex Mites. Translational vision science & technology. 2013;2(7):2.
