Dry eyes is a common condition affecting many people, especially those over the age of 50. This condition is characterised by not producing enough tears, having unstable tears or excessive tear evaporation. Symptoms include the eyes stinging, feeling scratchy or irritated, or even excessive tearing.

In more serious cases, dry eye can also cause sensitivity to light. Usually dry eye will appear in both eyes, although it can present more symptoms in one eye than the other.Dry eyes most commonly occur in the elderly, although the condition can appear at any age. Women are far more likely to encounter this issue than men. There are a number of ways to treat or manage dry eyes, but glasses is not usually one of them. The only time when glasses may help is if contact lenses are increasing irritation, in which case your eye specialist may recommend you switch to glasses more often. If blurred vision or soreness occur, this is more likely to be a result of dry eye, rather than an indicator that you need prescription glasses for a vision correction.

Treatment options for dry eye depend largely on the underlying cause of the condition, which often needs to be dealt with before further steps are taken. This could be a side effect of some medications, an infection, allergies, eye damage, or something else.Common approaches to relieve the symptoms include eye drops, a change in diet, minor surgery, prescription medicine, a lifestyle change or something else.

The only way to determine the best course of action to deal with dry eye is to see an optometrist who will be able to identify the cause and clearly offer a solution.