The dangers of rubbing your eyes

We all rub our eyes when we are tired, or frustrated, or just out of habit. Knowing what happens when you do it and how you can get rid of this bad habit is essential to not only your eye health, but your overall health as well.

• Your hands carry more germs than any other part of your body. When you rub your eye, these germs are easily transferred and can often result in infections like conjunctivitis, otherwise known as pink eye. Conjunctivitis can also be a symptom of the coronavirus.
• Rubbing your eyes can play havoc with your appearance! It causes tiny blood vessels to break, resulting in blood-shot eyes and those dark, unsightly circles that everyone is always trying to avoid.
• Sometimes people get a foreign body stuck in their eye and the natural instinct is to rub it to try and remove the object. This is not a good idea as rubbing against the object can very easily scratch the cornea.
• Rubbing is most dangerous to people with certain pre-existing eye conditions. People with progressive myopia (a type of short-sightedness cause by a lengthened eyeball) may find that rubbing worsens their eyesight. Similarly, those with glaucoma may find that the spike in eye pressure caused by rubbing the eyes can disrupt blood flow to the back of the eye and lead to nerve damage, and, ultimately, permanent loss of vision.
• Continuous eye rubbing in susceptible individuals can also lead to thinning of the cornea, which is weakened and pushes forward to become more conical. This is known as keratoconus, and is a serious condition that can lead to distorted vision and ultimately the need for a corneal graft. Read more about keratoconus.

How do I break the habit?

If something is stuck in your eye, attempt to flush it out with sterile saline or artificial tears. If this doesn’t work, head straight to your doctor.

The best ways to prevent yourself from touching your eye area is to use eye drops to keep your eyes hydrated and prevent itching. Artificial tears are a non-medicated yet highly sophisticated imitation of natural tears. They are available over the counter and are beneficial to anyone experiencing dry eyes. Other eye drops are available to prevent the itch that causes eye rubbing. These drops are called anti-histamines and mast cell stabilisers. In more severe cases, steroid eye drops are also used to prevent chronic eye rubbing, especially in allergy sufferers.

Excessive eye rubbing, whether due to chronic dryness, itchiness, or merely habit, should be addressed to avoid unpleasant consequences.

Note:  Since more and more people in our community are working from home and will have a need to be on their computer screens for longer periods during the day, we recommend getting a pair of computer glasses, with Blue Light filter to protect from the harmful computer rays, and anti-glare to take the strain off your eyes as you spend more time online. We are offering a 50% discount on these lenses when you buy a frame. 

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