Dry Eye Syndrome is a common condition that develops as we age. It's caused by either a lack of tear production or poor quality of tears that are produced.

Tears are comprised of water, salt, oils, and proteins. They play an important part of keeping our eyes lubricated. This process nourishes our cornea, helps flush out foreign particles in the eye, and plays a part in focusing the light that enters our eyes.

When the composition in the tears becomes imbalanced, the eyes become dry, and it can put you at an increased risk for other eye conditions.

Age in general can be a contributing factor. As we age, many body processes start to slow down and become inadequate...lubrication being one of them.

Women are especially at risk. As estrogen decreases, the production of hyaluronic acid also decreases. Hyaluronic acid is found in the eyes and is responsible for lubrication and hydration of not only the eyes but of the joints and other tissues as well.

Medications that you take and other health conditions that you have can also be contributing factors to dry eyes.

Working at a computer also increases your risk of having dry eyes. As we look at a screen for many hours a day, we tend to blink less. Blinking spreads tears across our eyes and is how our eyes stay moisturized.

Wind or air can also dry out our eyes, as can environmental allergies, vitamin deficiencies, and poor diet.

While you may seek help from your primary care physician for symptoms of dry eye, they'll likely just refer you to your eye doctor. Here are some things your eye doctor may suggest if they determine you do have DES:

Over-the-counter eye drops - these are drops that you can find in your local drug store that don't require a prescription. They are typically a saline type of drop that can help with mild symptoms.

Prescription eye drops - if your dry eye is more serious, your eye doctor may give you eye drops that are only available by prescription. What I've heard from an eye specialist is that none of these actually have any way to help improve the oils produced by the body which help lubricate the eyes. These drops are more like a stronger "band-aid" for the problem.

Contact lenses - some contact lenses have been designed to help keep the moisture in the eye.

Tear duct plugs or surgery - I don't know much about these treatments, but what I've read says that loose eyelids can lead to tears that drain from the eyes too quickly. Plugs or sugery seems to be the answer for these types of conditions.

Avoiding environmental factors - if your dry eye is due to windy conditions or being around smoke or smokers, you may consider avoiding these situations.

Diet - increase your water intake and add better quality fats and oils to your diet. And don't forget to get a plethora of foods high in Vitamin A in your diet.

Reduce screen time - it's a hard thing to do since our society has become very technology based. If you can't get away from the screens, at least set an alarm every 20 minutes to look at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds.

Blink more - this kind of goes hand-in-hand with reducing screen time. If you're going to be looking at a screen all day, be sure to blink.

Homeopathy - Homeopathy is a form of medicine that is safe and gentle without harmful side effects. Here are some of the most helpful remedies that can be used for dry eyes:

There are many more homeopathic remedies that can be used for dry eyes, but I can't list them all here. These are the ones that I find to be useful a majority of the time.

Because DES is a chronic condition, you may have to use a remedy for a long period of time before you notice significant changes. If you're not sure what you're doing, I'd highly recommend working with a homeopath so that you know exaclty what to do for your particular case.

For your convenience, I've added an Eye Health area in my Fullscript Dispensary where you can find many of these natural remedies should you wish to purchase them.