What causes sensitive and burning eyes?

Question

Hi doctor,

On random days, typically after a long sleep, I will wake up and put in my contacts, and they feel perfectly normal. Then when I go into sunlight, my eyes become sensitive and begin to burn. The burning gets progressively worse, even with a hat or sunglasses. Once this happens, I go home and remove my lenses and rinse my eyes with eye drops. However, they continue to burn. They look very red, irritated and are not improving at all. What causes this? And how do I treat it? It happened probably three times in the last five months. Please help me.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com. The symptoms which you have is usually seen in patients with dry eyes. It often presents with dryness, grittiness, irritation and burning sensation which goes down after washing the face. The best way to treat simple dry eye is to use over-the-counter lubricants, for example, Carboxymethylcellulose acetate 0.5 percent eyedrops. Also, make a conscious effort to blink more frequently. Also, give a "contact lens holiday" for a few weeks. If you cannot do without your lenses even for a few weeks, then use drops called Genteal gel (Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose) or Systane eye drops. These two can be used over contact lenses. Hope this helps you.