Your Eye Doctor and Dry Eyes

When you suffer from dry eyes, you may think it is simply because of something in your environment. What you may not know is that it can be a disease that your eye doctor can treat. If your eyes are chronically dry, it may be time to schedule an appointment.

Eyes become dry when they do not create an adequate amount of tears. This is dangerous, because it causes the inflammation, which can increase infection risk and can cause scarring. If the scars occur, permanent vision loss can happen.

However, lack of tears is too simple to be the full explanation for dry eyes. As your eye doctor will tell you, your eyes create three layers of tears. The one closest to the actual surface of the eye is the mucin layer. This layer smooths out the surface, and it is followed by the aqueous layer, which is the water layer that keeps the area moist and is created by the tear ducts. Finally, the lipid layer is an oily film that prevents the rest of the liquid on the eye from evaporation.