Welcome to Fall! Iâm sure it will cool down eventuallyâŠbut Iâm not holding my breath.  Whether it cools down or not, allergy season is about to be here (if it isnât already). And when it comes to allergies and the eyes, Iâve learned that most people have a misunderstanding of what âeye allergiesâ really are.
An example I often give is that I have plenty of patients who have NO typical allergy symptomsâno sneezing, congestion, or runny noseâbut have terrible âeye allergies.â The opposite is also true. I have patients with LOTS of seasonal allergies whose eyes barely bother them at all.  So why can two people exposed to the same pollen, mold, and other allergens have completely different reactions in their eyes?
One big piece of the puzzle is something we talk about all the time at Twenty20: your tear film.
We usually think of tears as simply keeping our eyes wet, but they do much more than that. A healthy tear film helps protect the surface of the eye and continually washes away dust, debris, pollen, and other irritants.  During allergy season, there is A LOT of that stuff floating around in the airâand whether you have traditional seasonal allergies or not, some of it is going to end up in your eyes.
If you have a healthy, stable tear film, your eyes are generally better equipped to clear those irritants away. But when you have dry eyes or a poor-quality tear film, allergens and irritants can remain on the surface of the eye longer. That can contribute to more inflammation and make those familiar allergy symptomsâitching, redness, burning, and wateringâeven worse.  And yes, I said watering. One of the confusing things about dry eyes is that dry eyes can actually water more. Your eyes become irritated and respond by producing reflex tears, but those watery tears don’t necessarily fix the underlying tear-film problem.
So, if your eyes become itchy and irritated every allergy season, don’t assume you simply have to suffer through it. Come in to the office and see one of our doctors to discuss how you can reduce symptoms and improve your allergy season.  For almost all of our patients, treating the underlying dry eye and improving the tear film is the most important part of getting those seasonal symptoms under control.
So if Fall arrives and your eyes suddenly look like you’ve been crying through an entire season of your favorite TV show, come see us.  Sometimes treating the âallergiesâ means we need to take a closer look at the tears.
Enjoy the Fall. Skip the itchy eyes. And See Sharp.
