Are you suffering from red and itchy eyes every afternoon? Are you having blurred visions and a burning sensation that is forcing you to go on blinking continuously?

Check if you are suffering from these symptoms:

• Redness
• Sensitivity from light
• Blurred vision
• Itching or a sensation of a foreign body in your eye
• A gritty sensation
• A burning or scratchy sensation at times
• Stringy mucus around the eyes
• Difficulty wearing contact lenses
• Eye fatigue
  

If the answer is “YES”, you are definitely suffering from the Dry Eye syndrome! Luckily this problem is not incurable, and you can get rid of it if you take a little more care of your precious eyes. Of course, you don’t want to live your whole life with that strange sensation in your eyes, the window to this world and its colors!

Here are a few ways for you to get rid of the problem:

1. See your eye specialist immediately. When it is about your eyes, the sooner the better. Always be honest with your doctor and explain him clearly about the severity of the symptoms.
2. Check your workspace. Dry eyes are often the result of the constant stare at the computers at our workplace. You can't avoid going to work with the excuse of a 'dry eye'. Can you? So, reform your workstation and some of your habits. That will save most of the pain.
• Blink – It is going to be hard to remember to do this at regular intervals. But this is the first step you need to take towards preserving your eyes. Close your eyes for a few seconds whenever possible.
• The 10-10-10 Method – After every 10 minutes, look at an object 10 feet away for 10 seconds. This is a healthy eye exercise to avoid stressing your eyes too much.
• Adjust the screen settings – Make your screen a bit dull. If possible, adjust the brightness to 0 and For the contrasts, you can settle for something in the 80s level,
• Maintain at least 16-24 inches distance from the screen while reading. But again, don’t stress your eyes too much. You should be comfortable with the distance from the screen. Change the settings to display larger texts rather than smaller ones.
3. Treat dry eye syndrome with appropriate medication as prescribed by your doctor to keep your eyes moist.
4. If possible, use a humidifier in your home or office.
5. You should also take a lot of nutritional supplements. Flax seed and oil, fatty fish and fish oil supplements are good for your eye health as they are high in Omega-3 fatty acids. Walnuts and soybeans are also a good source of Omega-3 fatty acid.
6. Apply warm compresses to the eye. This helps in soothing plugged tear ducts.
7. Air conditioning in offices also effect the eyes by causing them to become dry which then leads to redness, a gritty burning sensation as well as causing fatigue.
8. Eye drops may be used to relieve itching, soreness, dryness in the eyes. They can be used to get dirt out of the eye. If left untreated, conjunctivitis may occur as the eye becomes prone to infection. However, eye drops will not improve the current health of the eyes. There is a wide variety of artificial tear eye drops that provide different surface moisturizing. They all act differently; therefore, you should try different artificial tears to find the one that works best for your eyes. Eye drops can be purchased over the counter from opticians and pharmacies readily. Some of the leading names that are available are Hypermellose, Lacrilube, Systane, Gel Tears, Blink, and Refresh, to name a few.
9. Many people try and splash water into the eyes assuming that it will help, however this actually works in the opposite way, and causes the eyes to dry further as the natural mucus and lipids found in the eye are washed out, thus, reducing the lubrication in the eyes and making the eyelids prone to greater friction as they blink and hence causing redness and irritation in the eyes. There is also a greater chance of infection by washing the eyes with simply water.