The Main Causes Of Chronic Dry Eye

Eyes watering in the morning? Tears running down your cheeks uncontrollably and can't seem to stop. You might be experiencing chronic dry eye no matter how much the tears are flowing. Unfortunately when the tears flow freely like that you just might be experiencing the symptoms or the beginning of chronic itchy eye.

Chronic dry eye occurs because you don't produce either enough tears or the tears you do produce are of poor quality. It's the poor quality tears that make your eyes water like there's no tomorrow. You'll notice a stinging, burning sensation, light sensitivity and even blurred vision in addition to an excess amount of tears or not enough tearing.

Your eye lubrication mechanism is a two-fold process. The bad part is that if either of this process fails your stuck with chronic dry eye. In order to lubricate your eyes successfully, you need all the systems balanced and the "ingredients" for good tear production in the proper proportion. Tears contain water, antibodies, oil, mucus, growth factor and proteins. If you don't have enough water, in the mix, it makes sense that you'll have dry eyes. However, you also need oils to lubricate the eye and keep the water from drying, mucous to allow the tears to spread easily and the proteins and antibodies to fight eye infection. If you damage your eye, the growth factor helps it heal. When working properly, the glands around the eyes make sure this happens.

The system creating the tears and responsible for lubricating the eye is the lacrimal functional unit. It sounds a bit like a computer part and in a way, does perform much like a motherboard for the eye. The unit is composed of the meibomian gland, the lacrimal gland and goblet cells. If you're producing tears, the lacrimal glands are doing their job. If those tears flow dramatically down your cheek, your meibomian glands may not be functioning properly. The fatty part of your tears, the lipids are produced by these glands. The film that coats the eye and prevents evaporation is made by the lipids. It could be a malfunctioning goblet cell or a missing one. In this case, the goblet cells that create the mucin aren't available to allow the eye surface to wet or keep the tear film stable.

When the elements don't work together or your lacrimal functional unit "malfunctions," you'll find your eyes burning or feeling like there's sharp metal pieces in the eye. The tears will start to flow freely, eyes will itch and burn and should the problem originate from a lack of mucin or lipids your eyes will burn that much more instead of causing relief. The excess tears wash away all the lubricant that keeps the fluid from evaporating and scatters it all over and around the eye.

There are a number of causes for dry eyes. All the reasons boil down to poor tear composition and/or lack of tear production. Changes in your hormones that occur with menopause and aging are reasons for a malfunction. The problem can also be caused by a vitamin deficiency. Some medications and diseases create the situation, such as Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and Sjogren 's syndrome or the use of antihistamines or birth control pills. If you have the problem, seek medical help to find out what causes chronic dry eye in your situation and receive treatment.


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The causes of chronic dry eye should not be ignored. At one of the authors websites there is information on chronic dry eye relief as well as information on controlling the symptoms like the itchy, burning eyes as well as the never ending tears.