Dry eye the name itself is self-explanatory; this condition makes the eyes feel dry, scratchy, and gritty. Other symptoms may include:
Symptoms of a dry eye
Dry eye is a disorder in the tear film with a deficiency of tears (shortage of tear) or low quality tear (excessive tear evaporation) which causes damage to the outer exposed eye surface (interpalpebral ocular surface) and is related with symptoms of ocular discomfort.
- Eye fatigue
- Discomfort or foreign body sensation
- Burning
- Stinging
- Itching
- Pain
- Light sensitivity
- Abnormal blinking
- Redness
- Blurry vision
- A stringy discharge from the eyes
Why a dry eye is causing watery? - Reflex Tears
It may seem strange that dry eye can cause the eyes to water. This can happen only because of the eye irritation. Excessive tearing occurs the same way, if something got in to the eyes.
However, these tears would not make the eyes feel better. Because the reflex tears, watery type tears, which are produce due to injury, irritation, or emotion does not have the lubricating property necessary to prevent dry eyes. Commonly tear film is made of three layers water, oil, and mucus. All these layers are important for maintaining good eye health. The cornea (front covering of the eye) is in need of a continuous supply of these tears to protect it from infection.