Dry eyes can burn, sting, feel gritty, water excessively, or make vision fluctuate. The problem is not always that your eyes do not make enough tears. Tears can also evaporate too quickly or become unstable, often because the oil-producing meibomian glands in the eyelids are not working normally. Dry eye is, therefore, a group of related problems rather than a single condition.
For mild symptoms, several low-risk steps can help. Home remedies do not work for everyone. If your symptoms are persistent or worsen, schedule an eye exam at Aiello Eye Institute in Yuma today. Below are 13 evidence-based ways to help dry eyes at home.
1. Clean your eyelids and use a warm compress
Warmth can soften thickened oils made by the eyelid’s meibomian glands, while gentle lid hygiene can remove crust and debris. Both are standard first-line measures, especially when dry eye is associated with blepharitis or meibomian-gland dysfunction.
How to: Place a comfortably warm (not hot) clean compress over closed eyes, then gently clean the lid margins. A purpose-made eyelid cleanser is preferable to routinely putting diluted baby shampoo around the eyes.
2. Take regular breaks from screens
People tend to blink less completely during concentrated screen use, which gives tears more time to evaporate. Take more frequent breaks and increase your blink awareness when using prolonged visual displays.
How to: Use the familiar 20-20-20 rule as a reminder: roughly every 20 minutes, look about 20 feet away for 20 seconds, and add several full blinks.
3. Practice Complete Blinking
How you blink can matter almost as much as how often you blink.
An incomplete blink leaves part of your eye exposed. Over time, this can contribute to tear evaporation and irritation.
Try this simple blinking exercise
Every so often, while working:
- Slowly close your eyes completely.
- Pause briefly.
- Open them again.
- Repeat several times.
You don’t need to squeeze your eyelids tightly or follow a complicated blinking schedule.
Small clinical studies suggest that blink exercises may improve symptoms and blinking behavior, although improvements in objective dry-eye measurements are typically modest.
4. Use Artificial Tears
For mild dry eye, artificial tears are one of the most established treatments you can use at home.
These lubricating eye drops supplement your natural tear film and can temporarily relieve dryness, burning, and irritation.
There are many different formulations available, and no single product is best for everyone. Your eye doctor may have a good recommendation based on your eye exam, history, and overall eye health.
If you choose to look for something over the counter, pick drops labeled as “lubricating eye drops” or “artificial tears” rather than drops designed primarily to “get the red out.”
If you’re using artificial tears frequently, or regular drops seem to irritate your eyes, ask your eye doctor whether preservative-free artificial tears would be a better option. However, preservatives can irritate an already sensitive ocular surface when used frequently.
5. Consider a Gel or Ointment at Night
If regular artificial tears don’t last long enough, thicker lubricating products may help. Eye gels and lubricating ointments remain on the eye longer than standard eye drops. The tradeoff is that these products can temporarily blur your vision. For that reason, thicker gels or ointments are often used before bedtime rather than before driving, working, or reading. They may be particularly helpful if your eyes feel dry overnight or when you first wake up.
6. Reduce Dry Air and Direct Airflow
Your environment can affect how quickly your tears evaporate. Dry moving air speeds evaporation. In a randomized crossover trial of computer users, a desktop humidifier raised local relative humidity by about 5 percentage points and increased median noninvasive tear breakup time by approximately 4 seconds.
Environmental control has a strong rationale, guideline support, and direct experimental evidence.
Try making a few simple changes:
- Point fans and air vents away from your face.
- Avoid sitting directly beneath heating or air-conditioning vents.
- Consider using a clean humidifier when indoor air is very dry.
- Reduce exposure to smoke and other airborne irritants.
- Position your computer screen slightly below eye level.
- Looking slightly downward at a computer screen may reduce the amount of the eye’s surface exposed, which can help reduce tear evaporation.
7. Protect Your Eyes From Wind
Wind can increase tear evaporation and make dry eyes feel worse.
If your symptoms worsen outdoors, wraparound sunglasses or moisture-chamber eyewear can help shield your eyes from wind.
This can be especially useful in windy, dusty, or very dry environments.
Wraparound sunglasses or moisture-chamber eyewear can reduce wind reaching your eyes and may slow evaporation. This is different from blue-light filtering: a Cochrane review found blue-filtering spectacle lenses probably provide little or no short-term benefit for computer-related visual fatigue, and they are not an established treatment for dry eye.
8. Avoid Cigarette Smoke and Other Eye Irritants
Cigarette smoke and other airborne irritants can aggravate an already-sensitive eye surface.
If you have dry eyes, reducing your exposure to cigarette smoke, dust, strong fumes, and other irritating airborne particles may help reduce discomfort.
Check Your Medications and Contact Lenses
Sometimes improving dry eye isn’t about adding another treatment. It’s about identifying something that’s contributing to the problem.
Certain medications can contribute to dry-eye symptoms, including antihistamines, antidepressants, diuretics, and others. Don’t stop taking a prescribed medication because you think it’s causing dry eye. Instead, discuss your symptoms and medications with your eye doctor or prescribing healthcare provider.
Contact lenses can also worsen dry-eye symptoms for some people. If your eyes become noticeably more uncomfortable while wearing contacts, consider switching to glasses temporarily and talk with your eye doctor. Changing your contact lenses, lens solution, wearing schedule, or dry-eye treatment may help.
Which Home Treatment for Dry Eyes Works Best?
There isn’t a single treatment that works best for everyone because dry eye can have different underlying causes. You should seek an eye doctor if you experience any of the following symptoms:
- Continue despite using artificial tears and other basic measures
- Keep coming back
- Are getting progressively worse
- Interfere with reading, driving, computer work, contact lenses, or normal activities
Dry eye can have many causes, including tear evaporation, inadequate tear production, meibomian gland dysfunction, eyelid disease, medications, contact lenses, inflammation, and underlying health conditions.
Finding the cause can help your eye doctor recommend the appropriate treatment, rather than relying on trial and error.
Schedule a Dry Eye Evaluation at Aiello Eye Institute
Not every red, painful, or blurry eye is simply dry eye; rather than guessing what your symptoms may be, it’s wise to seek professional eye care when symptoms do not go away. If you develop significant eye pain, pronounced light sensitivity, sudden or substantial changes in vision, an eye injury, marked redness, significant discharge, or rapidly worsening symptoms, schedule an eye exam today.