Is It Dry Eye Or Something Else? A Functional Eye Doctor's Tip To Tell

If you've ever dealt with eye discomfort (blurriness, itchiness, grittiness, et al.), you may self-diagnose it as a case of dry eye. It makes sense: Dry eye is even more prevalent at the moment—not only because the arid winter air sucks all the moisture out of your eyeballs, but many of us are also staring at screens more than ever before. As functional eye doctor Rudrani Banik, M.D., shares on the mindbodygreen podcast, the work-from-home setup isn't too kind for your delicate orbs; that uptick in screen time may cause digital eye strain—and dry eye, as a result. 

So when those aforementioned symptoms decide to crop up? Well, it's dry eye, you think...probably. We'd never tell you to sound the alarm every time you face some eye discomfort (for what it's worth, it probably is dry eye!), but it's nice to know for sure, no? After all, says Banik, many of the eye conditions (macular degeneration, cataracts, and the like) have overlapping symptoms—again, blurriness, itchiness, grittiness, etc. 

Here's the main difference between dry eye and some of the other more serious eye health concerns: Dry eye appears in ebbs and flows. "People may experience temporary blurriness or a scratchy sensation in the eye, like there's sand or pebbles in the eye—that's dry eye," says Banik. "But the key is that it comes and goes. It really should not be there all the time."  

On the flip side, if you wake up to uncomfortable eye pain with no relief whatsoever throughout the day, you might want to give your eye doctor a ring. 

If your symptoms come and go, you're likely dealing with a case of dry eye. Annoying, yes, but also easily treatable: According to Banik, you might want to start dialing down the screen time—difficult in a time of social distancing, we know, but Banik notes that dry eye is one of the most common symptoms of digital eye strain (along with leeriness, difficulty focusing, light sensitivity, and sometimes even neck and shoulder pain). She suggests limiting your devices a couple of hours before bedtime, or, at the very least, investing in a pair of blue-light-blocking glasses.