Why Tears Are Important

Segment 2

Why are tears important? Perhaps we should ask - why should we even worry about our tears?

Well, first we need to remember that the surface of our eyes is covered in a sheet of living cells and like every living part of our body these cells need support - things like water, food, oxygen and protection. Every living cell in our body can generally get this from blood, but if we had blood over our eyes we would have a hard time to see - so instead of blood we have tears - which means that tears need to be as complex as blood, but without the red cells that would get in the way of our vision.

Moisture is job number one and tears are so important that we have two ways to make tears - what I like to call a sprinkler system and a firehose. The firehose makes a saltwater tear that is good for flushing a loose eyelash out of our eye or helping us with our emotions - but being mostly salt and water it isn’t much like blood, so we should think of it more like an emergency back up system. The best tear comes from our sprinkler system made of many cells and glands that together make the best tears from water, salt, protein and oil - think salad dressing - and like salad dressing the water and oil don’t mix - with oil floating on the surface. Either system can wet our eyes, but only the salad dressing of the sprinkler system has all the good stuff to keep our eyes happy and healthy.

Introduction To Dry Eye Disease

Hi, I’m Dr. Edward Jaccoma - a “Dry Eye Guy”. I’m also a board-certified Ophthalmologist or “Eye MD,” with over 30 years of experience in dry eye and related eye care. In the following segments I’m going to address issues common to diagnosing and fixing most dry and related eye surface diseases. These segments include videos and diagrams simplifying what are often complex medical problems and are not designed to replace the care from your eye doctor.

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It’s estimated over 40 million Americans have this common disease and if you have any doubt if you may have dry eye, then this could be a simple test to see if you might have it.

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Blink Test

For the next 20 seconds, starting on my cue, you should try to stare - without blinking - to see how you will feel, but first I want you to set a 20 second timer and then blink two times. So it will be 2 blinks and then start your timer and no blinking for the 20 seconds the clock will measure for you.

Ready, 2 blinks and Go! (20 seconds).

Ok, blink all you want but remember how your eyes feel now or at anytime over the last 20 seconds.

• Any sense of stinging, burning or scratchiness?

• Sensitivity to light?

• Watering?

• Blurry vision?

  —- Are you now or commonly finding:

• Strings of eye mucous?

• A sense of eye fatigue?

• Redness of the eye whites?

If you’re not sure - then even if you don’t have it now, there’s a good chance that somewhere in your lifetime you will - because this is a common, chronic and progressive disease. If you think - or know - that you or someone you’re close to has dry disease, then I’ve got more information to share in the following segments.