What is the best treatment for gritty eyes?
Gritty eyes are a nuisance but rarely cause serious eye problems. The gritty feeling can disrupt your day to day activities and work. However, having simple strategies can be very helpful and comfortable for your eyes.
Minimising dryness and evaporation of your tears is the first and most important step. Think about how long your wear your contact lenses. Contact lens technology has improved dramatically over the last 20 years, but even with modern materials, they are still a foreign body sitting on the surface of the eye so it is important to find times when you can take them out and use your glasses.
Think about your screen use; subconsciously when working on a display of any size our eyebrows go up as we start to concentrate and we blink less often- see if you notice this the next time you open your laptop or tablet. It is important to take micro breaks and look into the far distance and blink for 2-3 seconds every so often when working on a big project.
If you fly a lot or work in an air-conditioned environment, the air is arid, and this affects the moistness of your eyes. Simple steps like using lubricating eye drops are very useful in these situations. It is better to use them in anticipation of your eyes feeling gritty if you know you will be in these situations rather than waiting for them to feel very irritated and sore. Some of my patients use desktop humidifiers when the office environment is troublesome for their eyes. These are not for everyone, but if you struggle, then they are very efficient, discrete and inexpensive.
If these simple strategies don’t give you much relief, then you would benefit from an eye and tear film assessment for gritty eyes treatment. We can look at the quality of your tears, and the mechanics of how your eyelids spread them across the surface of the eye, advising on other clinic-based treatments can give you long lasting relief.
Don’t let gritty eyes stop you from doing the things you need and like to do. If you are struggling book an assessment and we can devise a personalised gritty eyes treatment plan to soothe and make your eyes more comfortable
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