Why Are My Eyes Always Watering?

Tears are an important component of your eye health. When the eyes don’t produce enough tears, or when the tears they do make aren’t of acceptable quality, the resulting condition is known as dry eye. 

Healthy eyes contain secretion glands located in and around the eyelids that are supposed to produce tears and deliver them to the eyeball. As you blink, the lids act like windshield wipers, spreading the tears across the cornea, the clear membrane that covers and protects the front of the eye. 

Tears have three functions: lubricate the eye’s surface, wash away debris and pathogens, and help keep your vision clear.

If you produce more tears than your eyes need, the excess drains through ducts located in the inner corners of your eyelids and down the back of your nose. That’s why your nose runs when you cry.

At Omphroy Eye Care in Aiea, Hawaii, board-certified ophthalmologist Dr. Luis Omphroy and our staff know how annoying and uncomfortable dry eye can be and how, left untreated, it can cause serious complications. 

If your eyes are constantly watering, we have treatment options that can help restore your eye health.

Causes of dry eye

Dry eye most often develops when there’s an imbalance between tear production and duct drainage. Reasons for the imbalance include producing too few tears, producing tears of an inferior quality, or both. The major causes of inadequate tear production are:

• Aging
• Gland problems
• Underlying medical conditions (e.g., diabetes, thyroid problems)
• Medication side effects that decrease production
• Environmental factors (e.g., wind, indoor heat, and dry air)

Healthy tears should contain three layers, all of which protect and nourish the cornea: oil, water, and mucus. If any layer is missing or becomes damaged, tears may spread unevenly, they may be too watery, or they may evaporate too quickly. All of these can lead to dry eye.

Chronic dry eye complications

If your dry eye turns chronic, something more common as you age, you may develop any of a number of major complications:

• Excessive watering
• Irritation or grittiness
• Burning or itching
• A feeling there’s something in your eye
• Blurry vision
• Eye infections
• Damage to cornea

You wouldn’t think excessive watering would be a symptom of a condition called dry eye, but it's actually a common experience. When you don’t have enough tears or tears of good quality, the eyes try to lubricate themselves by making more and more tears. 

The tears it manages to produce, though, come only from the water layer, so you get a lot of spillage rather than lubrication.

Effective treatments for dry eye

If you’ve developed a mild case of dry eye, you can try some at-home remedies for symptom relief:

• Use over-the-counter gels, ointments, and drops
• Use alternate medications that don’t dry your eyes
• Avoid smoking and secondhand smoke
• Limit screen time (you blink less)
• Wear sunglasses with side protection against wind, sun, and dirt
• Place a warm, damp compress over your eyes to stimulate tears
• Apply light pressure to stimulate tears

If these remedies don’t work or your dry eye has turned chronic, come into Omphroy Eye Care so Dr. Omphroy can evaluate and diagnose your condition. He can also recommend a number of medical treatments that may prove more effective.

For mild cases, he might suggest prescription lubricating drops or eyelid scrapers, both of which reduce the burning and grittiness. 

For long-term relief, there are two options:

• Implanted but removable silicone/gel plugs inserted in the tear ducts to prevent drainage
• Nonreversible surgery that closes the tear ducts to prevent drainage

Dr. Omphroy also offers some innovative treatments, including intense pulsed light therapy and amniotic membrane grafts. He explains your diagnosis and treatment options at your evaluation.

Do you feel that your eyes are always wet and dripping? Make your next stop Omphroy Eye Care for state-of-the-art and effective treatment. To get started, give our office a call at 808-487-7700 today.