Remember hearing your mom tell you, “Don’t touch your eyes!” when you were rubbing your eyes? It was for a very good reason. To begin with, your hands are not usually clean and you can transmit bacteria and viruses into your eyes when rubbing them. For another reason, if you have eye allergies, rubbing them can actually make them itch even more by activating the histamines in your body. Rubbing your eyes can also cause scratches and other changes to the cornea, causing even further damage. There are times when it is important you see your optometrist when you have itchy eyes.
If your eyes do itch, take these steps to find relief:
If you have pink eye, which is characterised by bloodshot, itchy, goopy or crusty eyes, especially first thing in the morning. Wash your hands, do not touch your eyes, and see your optometrist immediately for prescription eye drops that will quickly clear up the pink eye.
Wash your face. There are times when you will have irritants on your face, eyelashes and near your eyes that will induce itchiness. Washing your face will help eliminate irritants and any bacteria or virus that may get into your eyes.
Treat allergies with allergy medicine. This may be in the form of a daily pill, Benadryl or an eye drop for allergies.
Wash your eyes with an eyewash or flood them with lubricating eye drops. Then, do not touch your eyes after using it.
Try a cold compress. This will help to cool the eyes and help with inflammation in the eyes that can cause the eyes to be puffy and swollen.
Don’t mess around with the health of your eyes. If you feel like there is something in your eye, you have a pain in the eye, decreased or blurry vision, call your optometrist in Kerman, CA immediately.
