How to Avoid Rubbing Your Eyes – Eyes Protection

However, a wise decision to support better eye health is to keep your hands away from your eyes. Rubbing your eyes can result in eye injuries as well as vision loss. It’s not worth the issues it creates to rub your eyes because it only provides minimal relief.

What Causes You to Rub Your Eyes?

You may rub your eyes due to a variety of medical conditions. These include:

Eye Infection

Itchy eyes are a common symptom of conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye. The most common way to contract it is through touching your eye while carrying bacteria or a virus on your fingers. Your eye may turn pink or red as a result of the infection. Another typical symptom is the presence of yellow or clear liquid on your eyelid corners or on your eyelashes.

Normally, this infection doesn’t hurt, but occasionally, you might itch and want to rub your eyes.

Because it is so easily spread by contact with an infected person, conjunctivitis is very contagious.

Allergies

The itchy eyes of some allergy sufferers lead them to rub their eyes.

One studyTrusted Source found that rubbing your eyes when exposed to an allergen causes you to feel the need to rub them more.

Sneezing, watery eyes, and a stuffy nose are some additional allergies symptoms. Due to what is growing outside, some people suffer from seasonal allergies. Food, insect stings, or medications may cause allergies in some people. Some additional causes include:

• Blepharitis is caused when the eyelids are inflamed because oil glands are clogged. Itchy or swollen eyes and crusted eyelashes are just a couple of the symptoms that may appear.
• Eyestrain is caused when your eyes are tired after looking really hard at something. Itching or burning may result from this.
• Dry eyes are caused when your eyes aren’t producing enough tears. Your eyes may itch as a result of this.

As well as wearing contact lenses or having a foreign object in your eye, the common cold and sinusitis can also cause your eyes to itch.

How Can Rubbing My Eyes Cause Damage?

For many different reasons, eyes can itch or irritate. Pollen, pet dander, and other airborne allergens can occasionally cause a reaction. When a foreign object gets stuck inside your eyelid, it can occasionally cause irritation.

Rubbing your eyes can be harmful in either situation. To get rid of irritants, your eyes have a built-in defense system. Your tear ducts produce tears, which are used to wash away irritants from your eyes. If someone has dry eyes and their tear production is insufficient to relieve irritation, eye drops can be used as a supplement to their natural tears.

When a foreign object becomes stuck inside your eyelid, rubbing your eyes could result in a corneal scratch. By releasing more histamine into the affected eye, it will also aggravate the condition and may even lead to an infection.

If you rub your eyes a lot, dark circles may develop over time. Eyelid blood vessels can break and leak blood when you rub them. Dark circles are caused by blood pooling under the skin. Once they manifest, dark circles can be challenging to get rid of. To completely get rid of rubbing-induced dark circles, you might need to wear an eye mask while you sleep.

Why Touching Your Eyes Can Be Dangerous

A sick person can spew virus droplets directly into another person’s face when they cough or speak, spreading the illness.

The most likely route for these droplets to enter your lungs is through the mucous membranes in your mouth or nose. The conjunctiva, a thin, transparent layer of tissue that lines the inner eyelid and covers the white part of the eye, is one such passageway through which the droplets can enter the membranes defending your eyes.

It follows that the virus can be transmitted through contact with infected eyes or even during an eye exam.

Currently, eye doctors and optometrists, including those at the John A. The Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah is taking extraordinary precautions to keep patients safe by using protective equipment to avoid such contact. They only schedule in-person appointments that are required to save eyesight.

It’s also crucial to keep in mind that you might touch your eyes more frequently than the average person if you wear contact lenses.

Can You Cause Injury by Rubbing Your Eyes?

The cornea or lens of your eye may be harmed by excessive or hard rubbing. Infections that require medical attention or vision impairment may result from this. You should call your doctor right away if you experience:

• eye pain
• light sensitivity
• reduced vision
• blurry vision
• redness or inflammation
• headache
• nausea
• fatigue

It is important to have these evaluated right away because they might be signs of eye damage.

Tips to Stop Rubbing Your Eyes

Treating the underlying issue that is making your eyes itchy is the best way to stop rubbing them. Treatment can include:

• Over-the-counter medication: Your eyes can be cleaned and any debris that may be irritating them can be flushed out with saline or eye drops.
• Prescription medication: To treat conjunctivitis, a physician will need to write a prescription. If you have allergies, you might also require medicine or injections.

To soothe irritated eyes, you can also use a warm compress.

Try these tips if you’re rubbing your eyes as a habit, instead of as a reaction to a symptom:

• Be mindful of what you are doing with your hands. Do not rub your eyes.
• If it’s difficult for you to keep your fingers away from your face, put on a pair of gloves or mittens. Rubberizing will be challenging if something is covering your fingers.
• Try using your hands for something else. A smooth rock or a stress ball could be rubbed.

FAQs