Tears, Tear Glands, Dry Eyes, Excessive Tearing

Are you looking to solve a tear problem? The flow of tears is a production that you likely overlook until there’s not enough or too many. Eye dryness or excessive tearing can cause tear attention, clearly on how to stop being bothered. The trail of tears is complex. This health blurb helps educate you toward a solution.

Coupled with your lids and lashes, tears are part of the protective system that keep your corneas moist, nourishes the eye, washes away particles from the surface and contains ingredients that help combat infection causing pathogens like bacteria and viruses. Eye comfort and clear vision results when the amount and composition of tears is right under the circumstances. And tear glands are one of the mechanisms for maintaining this healthy vision angle.

Tears sustain a moist film over your eyes because they consist of three layers, mucus based, water based and oil based. Each layer is from a different source. The water and oil based tears are gland deposits, and the mucus is secreted from goblet cells on the surface of your eye.

The water based layer of tears flow out of the lacrimal glands. These glands are in the upper outer corner of each eye, under the lid. It’s composition is mostly water with other substances mixed in, for instance some salts, proteins and lysozyme. Lyozyme is an antibacterial enzyme that’s part of your innate immune system. The lacrimal gland is where most of the excess tears come from when you cry, are overjoyed or eye is irritated.

Tear oil layer is discharged from sebaceous glands on your eyelid margins (meibomian glands) and in your eyelash hair follicles (zeis gland). It’s composed of mostly lipids, which act to slow water evaporation, smooth the surface, keeps tears from spilling out (epiphora) and seals closed eyes.

Mucus layer consists of mucin secreted by goblet cells in the conjunctiva membrane. Mucus is sticky, so it helps slow the run down of tears. This results in a more even distribution of the moist coating over your eye’s surface. Otherwise dry spots would form.

Tears are continuously being produce. So where does the excess go? They drain into the tear ducts, which lead into your nasal cavity. That’s why overflowing tears cause a runny nose when you cry.

Why does your eyes go dry or excessively tear? Tear problems usually stem from production, composition or drainage. The following elaborates on these disturbances.

Whenever your glands do not produce enough tears your eyes can feel painfully dry. Some associative causes for inadequate tear production include:

Whenever a tear gland fails to produce its proper amount, then the resulting tear composition change can cause dry eyes. For instance, if a lipid producing gland is clogged by infection, then water in tears may evaporate too quickly because of an insufficient oil layer.

Excessive tearing is generally caused by an overproduction of the lacrimal gland in response to eye irritation. For some, their dry eyes are actually the reason they have too many tears. Some other irritant sources are:

Blocked tear ducts can also result in an outpouring because the normal flow of tears can’t drain.

There are many other reasons your eyes may be dry or over tearing, which have little to do with unsuitable tear composition, malfunctioning glands nor irritation, for example:

Initial treatment relief for dry eye problem is using OTC artificial tears. A drop in the eye can soothe, moisturize, supplement tears and protect against irritation. And some drops are formulated with vasoconstrictors to reduce redness.