Red eye is basically a term used for dry, irritated, bloodshot eyes. The redness happens due to a reaction to something irritating the eyes, when the blood vessels under the eyes get inflamed or swollen. Redness can appear suddenly or take time to develop, like an injury or an eye allergy. Usually, it can be improved with home remedies or alternate treatments. It is more serious if the redness occurs with pain and vision impairment.
At some point, almost everyone gets red eyes. This usually happens when you get tired, have allergies, or have dry eyes due to contact lenses or smoke. There are many causes of red eyes; some may be medical emergencies, and others may not be an emergency but a reason or cause for worry. Red eyes can be easily cured using eye drops, but if the redness lasts for more than a week, consulting an ophthalmologist is a better idea.
Causes of red eyes:
Eyes appear bloodshot because of swollen vessels under the eyes, due to which the sclera, which is the white portion of the eyes, starts seeming red. The vessels can be swollen due to various reasons, including:
- Allergies: Eyes can get swollen and red due to some kind of allergy. You may have other symptoms such as itching, burning sensations, and continuous tearing. Eye allergy symptoms can occur along with other symptoms such as sneezing and an itchy running nose. Some common allergy triggers are pollen, dust mites, mold irritants like smoke, air pollution, and cigarettes.
- Dry eyes: Tears help ease and protect the eyes; when your eyes don’t produce enough tears, that means you have dry eyes. This condition mostly occurs in women, people above the age of 50, and people who wear contact lenses. Eyes always appear red in a person with dry eyes. Other symptoms are also there, such as a scratchy, burning sensation or feeling stingy in the eye, light sensitivity, blurred vision, or feeling like something is in your eye.
- Conjunctivitis: When the membrane that covers the inside of the eye and the white part of the eye gets inflamed, it causes conjunctivitis, or pink eye. Some other symptoms that may occur along with it are feeling like something is in your eye, itching, burning sensations, continuous tearing, and discharge of mucus, leading to the formation of hard outliers on the eye. Conjunctivitis is contagious due to viral and bacterial infections, so it is easily spread from one person to another.
- Subconjunctival hemorrhage: When the blood leaks on the surface of the eye due to the breaking of blood vessels in the eye, it causes subconjunctival hemorrhage. This condition may look serious, but it goes away on its own within one or two weeks. Usually the only symptom is the redness in the eye, but sometimes the eye may also feel slightly irritated.
- Injury: When an injury occurs to your eye, it may become red due to bleeding or irritation. Some other symptoms may also occur along with these, including eye pain, swelling around or in the eye, trouble moving your eye, and a different size of pupil. This can occur due to exposure to chemicals, physical trauma like being in an accident, or foreign objects entering the eye.
- Contact lenses: People who wear contact lenses usually have to touch their eyes a lot, causing them to be at greater risk of having red eyes than others. They are more likely to get red eyes due to various factors such as scratches on the cornea, eye allergies, dry eyes, having bumps under the eyelids, CLARE, a condition that causes inflammation due to wearing contact lenses overnight, and corneal ulcers, which usually happen due to sleeping in contact lenses.
How to get rid of red eyes?
Redness often gets better without any cure or treatment, but eye drops can help ease it. But sometimes the matter can be worrisome if a person has eye pain, vision impairment, a continuous occurrence of symptoms, or an eye injury. The most common treatments for red eyes include eye drops, oral medications, creams, and antibiotics. These medications can also help dry eyes. Red eye doesn’t cause any long-term damage and is easily treatable in most cases.
Some precautions can be taken for red eyes, such as:
- Dirt and germs can cause red eyes, so avoid rubbing your eyes.
- Don’t wear your contact lenses longer than the recommended time, and keep them clean.
- If wearing eye makeup, make sure to remove it properly before sleeping.
- While looking at computer screens for longer durations, make sure to take short breaks in between.
- Try avoiding things that can cause discomfort in the eyes, like dust, smoke, etc.
To summarize it all, red eyes most of the time do not need any treatment, as they often get better with time itself. It just requires some precautions, like not rubbing and touching your eyes. But sometimes what seems to be a red eye can be a very serious condition and can even lead to vision loss. It is suggested that if any concerning symptoms occur, consult your ophthalmologist.