What are Dry Eyes?
Dry eye is a chronic condition caused by either poor quality tears or insufficient tear quantity. Dry eyes can occur when tears fail to properly hydrate your eyes, a medical condition forms on your eyelid, or by allergies.
Your tears consist of 3 main ingredients: oil (known as meibum), mucin, and water. Meibum works to make sure your tears don’t evaporate too quickly, and mucin spreads your tears evenly across your eye. When there is an imbalance of either component, your tears aren’t able to maintain your eyes’ moisture levels, leading to dry eyes.
Insufficient tear quantity can be caused by different things. There may not be enough aqueous fluid (or water) in your tears, or there may be a blockage in one of your tear glands, impacting meibum or mucin production. When you don’t have enough tears, your eyes don’t get the moisture they need, which can ultimately lead to dry eye symptoms.
