why are your eyes so irritated and red all of the
time these are the top six reasons why let's focus in
hey howdy everybody this is Dr. Neal Guymon, Dr. EyeGuy, and i do videos all about the eyes to help
you with your eyes so consider subscribing let's talk about those irritated eyes now a lot of the
different causes on this list i've actually done more specific videos that go into more
detail about those causes of red eyes so make sure you check out the description below for
those video resources number one on the list super common dry eyes there are many different causes to
dry eyes it can be related to inflammation related to diet related to allergies related to using the
computer all of the time many different causes and very very common that's why it's number one
on the list there's a good chance if your eyes are irritated and red dry eyes could be the cause
now i've done many different videos and plan on doing a lot more videos specifically about dry
eyes and dry eye treatments make sure that you check out the playlist up there i'll put the
link in the description below as well now i do want to say this that dry eyes can actually be
chronic and progressive it can actually turn into a dry eye disease dry eye syndrome and so if you
think that your red eyes your irritated eyes might be from your eyes being dry
then i would try and treat it as soon as you can try and figure out the root cause of your dryness
and so that you can treat it properly because if it progresses into a more serious disease
it's really hard to treat it when it's more advanced number two on the list also a big one
allergies allergies can definitely cause your eyes to be irritated red watery usually when someone is
exposed to an allergen your eye will have an allergic response and usually a dead giveaway
in the clinic is when we look at the inside of the eyelids you'll see these tiny little bumps called
papillae and papillae will secrete the chemical histamine that causes your eyes to get red itchy
watery and irritated now you can experience eye allergies all year round it can also be seasonal
spring fall if you're allergic to cats and dogs that can cause your eyes to be irritated sometimes
it can actually be tricky to know if your eye symptoms are coming from allergies but if you
suspect that it's allergies causing the irritated eyes make sure that you check out my other video
about the best over-the-counter allergy eye drops that might help you with your symptoms i'll put
that link in the description below number three on the list is definitely related to contact lenses
now contact lenses can be responsible for a whole host of different eye problems usually you're
going to have an irritated or red eye if your eyes are not liking your contact lenses right now if
you wear your contacts for too long maybe you're sleeping in your contacts when you're not supposed
to you'll definitely cause inflammation and cause your eyes to be irritated and red in fact there's
a name for that it's called contact lens acute red eye or C.L.A.R.E. and that's actually a specific
diagnosis for people that have inflammation from wearing their contacts wearing your contact lenses
can also cause something called gpc or giant papillary conjunctivitis it's kind of like
a mechanical allergy from being irritated from the surface of the contact lenses if bacteria or
bacteria deposits get on the surface of the contact it can get onto the surface of the
cornea and cause ulcers or corneal infiltrates and that can cause your eyes to be irritated
red watery light sensitive if you feel like the redness and irritation is from the contact lenses
stop wearing the contact lenses go into your eye doctor see what's going on get properly diagnosed
you might need to change the type of contact lenses that you're wearing or maybe switch over
to dailies where you get a fresh contact every day so there are a few things that can help
just make sure that you go into your eye doctor now one thing to mention this video
is if you hit a like button on a video it may cause your eyes to blink and may help your red
irritated eyes a little bit so that's something definitely worth a try to hit the like button
thanks number four is a conjunctivitis or also known as pink eye now remember pink eye or a
red eye is this symptom of a disease and there are many different causes many different diseases that
can cause red irritated eyes including allergies like we mentioned before you can have an allergic
conjunctivitis but there's also a conjunctivitis that includes infections like bacterial or viral
conjunctivitis with these types of infections it can cause your eyes to definitely be irritated
red watery with bacterial infections that can cause your eyes to have some mucus maybe you'll
wake up with your eyes sealed shut in the morning you can also get that with viral infections
viral infections that will cause your eyes to be really really watery can also cause them to be
really really red if you're suspecting that you may have an eye infection you definitely want
to go into your eye doctor get a proper diagnosis with proper treatment you'll probably have to use
eye drops antibiotic eye drops probably and so just make sure that you get that
properly treated it's very important number five blepharitis now if we get an overproduction of
bacteria on our eyelid skin or our eyelashes it can cause eyelid inflammation blepharitis
and this bacteria can cause flakes and toxins on the base of the eyelashes it can also cause
bacteria to get inside of the oil glands and cause styes and this will cause your eyelids to inflame
but sometimes those toxins and flakes can actually get onto the surface of the eye and causes the
eyeball to get irritated and red as well now again i did a whole video about blepharitis and what you
can do at home to help treat your blepharitis so make sure you check out that video number six
on the list and this may seem like it comes out of left field but that would be computer vision
syndrome or computer eye strain this definitely needs to be included in the top six because this
is probably one of the biggest reasons why your eyes might be irritated and red especially if
you're one that works on the computer all day long usually what happens is you're looking at
the computer you're staring at the computer screen you blink a lot less and so the surface of your
eyes actually get really dried out and can get inflamed and red so this kind of ties into the
first one which was dry eyes but more specifically dry eyes from staring at the computer screen and
so this is included in computer vision syndrome the big thing here is you just want to obey the 20
20 20 rule every 20 minutes take a 20 second break and look 20 feet away pretty much you
just want to give your eyes a break from staring at the computer screen now i did a whole video
about computer vision syndrome and what you can do about it make sure that you check it out up
there i'll put the link in the description below as well if you have any questions about what might
be causing your red eyes make sure you leave it in the comments below i do my best to try and
answer any questions that i see down there i'm Dr. Neal Guymon, Dr. EyeGuy, focusing on you and your
eyes stay focused and check out my other videos right there and i'll see you in the next video