Itchy burning eyes I have had patients come into my office, sit down in the chair and, before I have had a chance to ask them what they have come to see me about, they put both fists up to their eyes and grind away at their eyes. I tell them that it is not a good idea to rub their eyes hard like that, but they tell me that their eyes itch so much that they cannot keep from rubbing them. When I examine them, their eyelids are red along the edges. Sometimes there are lashes missing. Their conjunctiva has a pale milky look and is slightly swollen. With the slit lamp I can see little bumps in the conjunctiva, behind the lower eyelid, that are called papules. These people are allergic to some airborne irritant. It is usually pet dander or pollen, …show more content…
Either they are not making enough tears to keep the front of their eye moist, or there is some problem with the composition of their tears. Tears have three main components, water, oil and mucous. The main portion, water, is secreted by the main lacrimal gland in the eye socket and hundreds of tiny tear glands imbedded in the conjunctiva. The mucous portion is secreted by goblet cells in the conjunctiva, and the oil comes from glands on the edges of the eyelids. In a normal functioning eye, the mucous coats the cornea surface and the surface of the conjunctiva of the eye and eyelids. The mucous allows the water to spread evenly over the surfaces rather than bead up like the water on a freshly waxed car. The oil floats on the outer surface creating surface tension to cause a stable film and retarding evaporation of the water. If there is not enough mucous, water, or oil, the tear film breaks down and creates a dry spot. Small dry spots stimulate the eyelids to blink; large dry spots are uncomfortable to the eye and cause a burning sensation. Chronic conjunctivitis and certain diseases destroy goblet cells, reducing mucus. Without mucus, the watery tears will not coat the eye, leaving large dry