3 Ways to Reduce Eye Redness

This past week, I got an up-close and personal reminder of how painful inflammation can be.  I was out on my morning run.  It is by far my exercise of choice for getting the blood flowing and clearing my mind.  

Well, I must not have been thinking about my feet because all of a sudden I was face down on the asphalt.  Ugh.  I rolled on to my back and saw stars all at the same time.  I am a true believer in the discomfort of inflammation.

Do you remember last week when we went over the 4 steps to alleviate your dry eye symptoms?  They are hydrate, harmonize, heat, and heal,  If you want to go back and review that blog again, just click here.

The fourth step - heal has to do with reducing inflammation.  I suggest taking an omega fatty acid supplement called HydroEye by ScienceBased health.  This supplement contains not only Omega 3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA)  but also GLA.  This proprietary blend of essential fatty acids has been scientifically shown to improve dryness in patients after only 12 weeks of use.

HydroEye by ScienceBased Health

Stress causes inflammation.  Inflammation means swelling, and we all know that when our bodies swell, they hurt.  Just think about the last time you accidentally got your finger caught in the door and it swelled up two times its size.  Ouch. 

The inflammation in our eyes is not as easy to see.  Sometimes the inflammation comes from within our bodies, as in the case of someone who already has an autoimmune disease.  In other people, the inflammation comes from outside sources like the preservatives and chemicals in our eye makeup and cleansers.   

3 ways to reduce inflammation from the outside

#1) Clean up Your Makeup Routine

The eyelids have the thinnest skin of our entire bodies.  Anything we place on them will be readily absorbed into the body.  And, our makeup and eye creams can be filled with toxic ingredients.  

The most important step in any beauty routine is to remember to remove your eye makeup every night.  Click the link here to download my free makeup remover guide.

#2) Never Sleep in Your Contact Lenses

The tears in our eyes are a combination of oils, water, proteins, and immune factors meant to fight off potential infections.  The proteins in our tears can attach to a contact lens and then act as an irritant to our eyelids. 

Removing and cleaning our contact lenses nightly is an important step in good contact lens hygiene.  If you are using a multi-purpose contact lens cleaner, you must rub the lenses in order to mechanically remove the proteins from the lens surface.  The "No Rub" labeling was emoved from these products almost a decade ago.  However, most patients have not returned to rubbing the lenses.

If you just hate to rub your contact lenses, switch to a hydrogen peroxide-based solution like Clear Care.  This solution is completely different from a multi-purpose solution and does not require rubbing.  However, there are some important (but easy) steps that must be followed when using this type of solution.  Check out the blog here for the details.

Why is it important to remove these proteins from our contact lenses?  Because they act like sandpaper on to the inside of your eyelids as you blink thousands of times a day.  Then, the inside of your eyelids become irritated and inflamed.  It is a disorder known as Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis (GPC) or Contact Lens Overwear Syndrome (CLOS).  Yes, that is actually a medical term.

The treatment for GPC is to stop wearing contact lenses and treat with anti-inflammatory medicated eye drops.  Sometimes, the inflammation can take months to fully clear up.  It can be very uncomfortable, costly, and socially devastating to a patient.  Since there was probably a reason why the patient was over wearing their contact lenses in the first place.  

Don't let yourself get into this kind of situation.  Preventing it is easy.  Remove your contact lenses every night, and clean them properly.

#3) Blink while using your digital devices

 Studies have shown that the use of digital devices in one of the leading causes of dry eye.  And, our use of these types of devices is ever increasing.

Our blink rate is normally about 10 - 15 blinks per minute.  However, when using a digital device that rate can decrease by up to 60 percent.  This causes our eyes to dry out and puts stress on the front surface of the eye.

When we blink, our eyelids come together and express oil from the glands lining the edge of the eyelid.  The oil is then spread across the watery part of our tears to prevent them from evaporating.

When we don't blink often enough, the oil hardens in the glands.  Over long periods of time, the gland producing this oil will atrophy.  This gives way to the instability of the tear film.

A tear film that dries out too quickly is unstable.  The unstable tear film puts stress on the front surface of the eye, which leads to inflammation.  You will remember, from my broken finger example, that inflammation causes swelling and pain.  

A great way to prevent this vicious cycle of dryness to start taking effect on the front surface of your eye is to consciously blink.  We eye doctors like to call this the 20 X 20 X 20 rule.  It stands for taking a 20 second break every 20 minutes while reading or using the computer to look 20 feet away.  

During this 20 second break, it is important to blink hard 5 times in a row.  The blinking will stimulate the oil in the oil glands to express and prevent stagnation.  

Conclusion

Redness in your eyes comes from inflammation.  Stress in our environment causes this inflammation.  There are so many stressors in our modern-day life that it is important to reduce the inflammation causing stress that we can control.  

There are 3 simple ways to change your daily habits for the better and reduce this stress.  The first is to switch to clean beauty products and eliminate the toxins that reach the delicate tissues surrounding our eyes.

Download the makeup remover guide and learn about the CLEAN Makeup Manual here.

Second, remove your contact lenses every night and clean them thoroughly.  The best contact lens disinfectant to use is Clear Care because it is not only preservative-free, but it is also the most potent disinfectant on the market.

And three, follow the 20 X 20 X 20 rule when using your digital devices.  Remember to take complete blinks 5 times while taking the 20 second break.

Reducing the inflammation from your eyes will help control the symptoms of redness and irritation.  Don't let your red, scratchy eyes hold you back from doing the things you love in life.  We all deserve clear, comfortable vision.