Common Winter Eye Problems & How To Treat Them

As winter is coming in, it is time to snuggle into your sweaters and pullovers along with taking special care of your hair, skin, and eyes. During winter, just as the skin gets dry due to lack of moisture, the same goes with your eyes. It gets dry, one might experience irritation, and is prone to a higher risk of being infected. Chillness in the air and dropped humidity levels result in obstructed blood flow and low ocular moisture.

Since the weather gets biting cold, it becomes a necessity to have indoor heaters, this is another reason for the moisture to dry up.

Read on to know more about common winter eye problems and useful ways to treat them in order to sustain good eye health throughout the year. 

Effects of Cold Weather On Your Eyes

Here’s what happens to your eyes during winter!

• Dryness 

Lack of moisture takes away natural wetness from the eyes. Since the tears drastically evaporate, gritty, sore, and dry eyes are troublesome.

• Pain In The Eyes

Discomfort and pain in your eyes is most likely linked to struggle with corneal freezing, blurred vision, and eyelid spasm once the temperature drops

1. Unclear Vision 

Stepping into the winter season can cause low vision, double vision, or blurriness. This often happens due to lack of blood supply and it impacts your eyes.

• Heaviness 

Eyes feel heavy during winter because our body produces melatonin in the absence of sunlight. This increases sleepiness too and that adds weight.

• Excessive Swelling 

Due to excess dryness because of less moisture in the air, the eyes tend to swell-up during winter. This increases the risk of corneal edema. A condition that increases fluid accumulation and affects vision.

• Sensitivity To Light 

Eyes get sensitive when there is dryness, ocular discomfort, and excessively watching the screen. In this case, the tendency to blink increases. Generally people skiing struggle a lot due to light sensitivity.

• Increased Tearing

Tears secretion increases during winter. This happens as a reflex to managing dryness. The eyes try hard to manage even irritation due to lack of moisture

• Pink Eye 

This eye condition is even known as Conjunctivitis. Commonly seen during winter. Viral or bacterial infections rapidly spread at this time. This infection further can cause respiratory infections too.

• Eyelid Eczema

Eyelid eczema affects delicate skin causing the urge to itch, redness in the eyes, and flakiness. 

• Strong UV Damage

When your eyes are exposed to strong UV light or snow, it causes eye-sunburn. This condition is known as photokeratitis, at times it causes cataract. 

• Eye Strain Using Excess Screen-time In Winter

In this fast paced world, we all need screens to access information. While we enjoy our cozy indoor setting, shorter days call for more hours of screen time. This digital exposure is bad for the eyes and it often causes sore, fatigue, and dry eyes.  

Treatment For Winter Eye Problems

Treating winter eye problems is a necessity to avoid possible major eye complications. Eyes are delicate and need good care. Here are some ways to treat every eye problem:

Tips to treat dryness in your eyes:

• Restore moisture – Use preservative-free lubricating eye drops. 
• Blink often – If you are often exposed to screentime. Take a 20 minute break.
• Choose a humidifier – Ensure there is moisture indoors to boost hydration in your eyes.
• Eye protection outdoors – Reduce wind exposure with the help of wrap around sunglasses.
• Boost hydration levels – Drink a lot of water to avoid dryness in the eyes. Like water is miraculous for your skin, works the same with your eyes too. 
• Indoor Heater – With an indoor heater setting it is not good to sit in front of the air vents directly. 
• Balance indoor humidity

Tips to treat pain, heaviness, and unclear vision

• Reduce screen time –  Eyes are excessively strained with extra screen time.
• Warm Compress – Take a small hot bag or warm compress to unblock the glands causing pain and allow it to relax eye muscles. 
• Apply eye drops – If your eyes hurt during winter, you might suffer from an allergy. Consult your doctor and with his permission, apply antihistamine drops to soothe pain

Tips to treat light sensitivity

• Eyewear protection – Wear protective sunglasses or a thick hat to save your eyes from strong sunlight.
• Adjust indoor light setting – Use dim and soothing indoor lighting.

• Tips to treat pink eye

• Stay Hygienic – Use a good soap to regularly wash your hands to avoid worsening of the infection during winters.
• Clean and individual pillow case – Do not mix pillow covers. Have your own separate one while you are infected. 

Tips to treat digitally strained eyes during winter

• Lubrication – Keep your eyes lubricated while watching the screen to prevent dryness
• Alter screen lighting – This is one of the best ways to beat eye problems due to the screen. Make sure the brightness is more than the lighting in your surrounding

Tips to treat eczema around your eyes

• Apply creams – Use ophthalmologist friendly creams on the sensitive skin around your eyes. This moisturizing is essential to protect your skin.
• Take a dermatologist’s advice – If you feel there is a concern with your skin, consult a dermatologist. They are likely to suggest applying a steroid cream.
• Avoid application of makeup – Makeup has harsh and fragrance-based chemicals.

Consult Your Doctor If

• Vision is blurry
• Severe pain
• Discharge
• Persistent redness

Eye-Q Eye Hospitals for Winter Eye Care – Why Consider Us?

We are located over 20+ locations in India to provide best solutions for preventive eye care. So you can consider us as we don’t just focus on treatment but believe in prevention care more.

Here’s what we take care of with regards to eye problems during winter:

1. Management of dry eyes
2. Infection Control
3. Eczema around the eyes 
4. Treating allergies
5. Relief from digital strain
6. Screening the condition of vision
7. Advice for UV Protection

Treat your eyes special. They are delicate and help us view everything around us. During winter, eyes succumb to dryness, tearing, UV skin damage, pink eyes etc. This can be managed by following the different methods of treatment for winter eye problems. 

At Eye-Q Eye Hospitals, personal care is provided with a strong foundation of  clinical excellence and world-class eye care facilities.