Do You Have Chronic Dry Eye – Like Me?

I guess dry eye is just another one of those things that comes with age. Oh well …

If I were given a menu of the afflictions of aging I could choose from, I would probably pick dry eye for one. This is not to minimize the condition. Unmanaged, dry eye can result in extremely painful corneal abrasions and even scarring of the cornea. I had several corneal injuries before I was diagnosed and before I learned to deal with the symptoms of dry eye.

My point is that dry eye is very manageable in most cases. If you awake in the morning and find it difficult to open your eyes – almost as if your lids are stuck to your eyeballs (duh, they were); if you have a lot of eye pain or find yourself blinking excessively (trying to produce tears – duh again); sensitivity to light, itching, redness or blurred vision, see your eye doctor. You may have dry eye.

Today, dry eye seems to have “come into its own” so to speak. With the release of drugs for chronic dry eye, everyone has now heard of this condition and – better yet – knows that there are ways to manage it.

This blog entry was sparked by a terrific four-part series I signed up for with RealAge.com. The series addresses living quite comfortably with dry eye and includes much more than drug solutions.

Lubricating eye drops are improving all the time. As I mentioned, there’s now a drug option for certain types of dry eye. But there are many other steps one can take for eye health and comfort.

One certainly can’t feel like an Ageless Beauty with red, painful, itchy eyes.

Come back tomorrow. I’ll share more of what I’ve learned about living with dry eye over the last 15 years.

[This entry is not meant to provide medical advice. It comes from my heart – from my heart to your eyes ;-)]

Tags: dry eye, eye health, eye pain, eye care, take care of your eyes , chronic eye pain, corneal abrasions, lubricating eye drops