Eye Irritation: Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

Your eyes have wonderful protective mechanisms. You have eyelids, lashes, and lubricating glands that keep the eyes moist and clear, ensuring foreign particles are flushed. However, some factors may cause the eyes to feel irritated.

Everyone has experienced eye irritation at some time in their lives. Although this may not have a major impact on our vision, the discomfort may affect our functioning and even productivity.

Eye irritation is like a little pebble in our shoe. It may be tolerable for a while, but if left unattended, it can cause severe discomfort and, in rare cases, even damage.

What is Eye Irritation?

Eye irritation could be vaguely defined as a discomfort of any kind, like dryness, itching, burning, stinging, tearing, redness, or even swelling. Sometimes, the irritation could affect our eyelids, eyelashes, or the areas surrounding our eyes as well.

Apart from making us feel uncomfortable, it may also disrupt our usual routine since our vision may be affected. Depending on the cause, the discomfort may range from mild to serious. 

There are several eye irritation causes, including dust, smoke, infections, poor hygiene, and excessive screen time.  Fortunately, eye irritation can be managed with timely attention to the discomfort, enough and proper care, home remedies, and over-the-counter eye drops.

Common Symptoms of Eye Irritation

Eye irritation can be easily identified by us or others around us. Even if the irritation is subtle, our eyes immediately react to it, and the common eye irritation symptoms noticed are: 

• Dryness in the eyes
• Itchiness
• Redness
• Tearing or watery eyes
• Burning
• Stinging
• A feeling that something is in the eye
• Swelling around the eyes
• Pain, especially while blinking
• Blurry or temporarily blurred vision
• Increased sensitivity to light

Causes of Eye Irritation

1. Environmental Triggers

Our environment could be quite harsh, with extreme weather changes, dust, pollution, smog, and seasonal allergens.

Eyeball irritation could also be caused by exposure to tobacco smoke, chlorinated pool water, dirt, grime, chemicals or their fumes, dust or sawdust, and sand.

2. Allergies

Some of us may suffer from allergies to:

• Natural, like pollen, mould, or pet hair
• Seasonal, like tree pollen, grass, spores, mould, reeds, weeds, or dust
• Chemicals, like sprays, paints, fumes, and smoke
• Specific foods, food colours, or preservatives 

These allergens often cause sneezing, red, watery, and itchy eyes. Food-related allergens may also cause swelling or irritation inside the eyes, though this is less common.

Sometimes, not removing make-up before sleeping or using expired eye make-up or products can also cause allergies, leading to eye irritation. These reactions are often grouped under the broader term eye allergies.

3. Dry Eye

The eyes are designed to be moist and lubricated. However, lack of sleep, excessive screen time, side effects of medicines, or exposure to hot and dry weather could cause our eyes to dry out.   

Dry eyes cause redness, irritation, and teary eyes. This may also cause blurred vision. 

4. Infections

Our eyes are susceptible to many bacterial, fungal, or viral infections. Conjunctivitis (pink eye), keratitis, stye, blepharitis and cellulitis are some common eye infections.

5. Styes

A stye is a red, painful, pus-filled pimple that forms at the outer or inner edge of the eyelids. A stye may also cause eye irritation, redness, and swelling. 

6. Digital Eye Strain

Prolonged screen time can cause eye irritation, dryness, and itching. Apart from the irritation in the eye, eyes may also feel fatigued and strained. This also affects the clarity and focus of the vision.

7. Contact Lenses

Contact lenses can also be a source of eye irritation. Irritation could be caused due to a dust particle, unclean hands and lenses, or due to an allergy to the lenses or solution. 

Wearing contact lenses overnight may also cause eye irritation and further complications.

Treatment for Eye Irritation

1. Medical Treatments

Although eye irritations are easily managed and treated at home, it is prudent to ask for medical intervention.

If the eye irritation persists, gets worse, or new symptoms come up, consult a doctor.

Some medical treatments that may be recommended include:

• Eye drops
• Ointments
• Oral antibiotics, pain killers, or anti-inflammatory medications 
• Eyelid scrubs to remove crusty sediments caused due to dry eye or blepharitis
• Other eye irritation treatment methods may involve small procedures 

2. Home Remedies for Eye Irritation

At home, there are some simple steps you can take:

• Rinse your eyes with normal water
• Use of warm or cold compresses soothes the eye irritation and pain
• Use over-the-counter lubricating eye drops 
• Consider using cool tea bags to relax and cool your eyes
• Avoid rubbing  your eyes

How to Prevent Eye Irritation

The simplest way to prevent eye irritation is to maintain hand and eye hygiene. Avoiding excessive rubbing and scratching of the eyes and ensuring clean hands while touching your eyes or wearing contact lenses are some good habits to prevent eye irritation.

Make sure you use safe and good-quality makeup for the eyes. Avoid using expired products and ensure you don’t leave makeup overnight. 

Be moderate with your screen time. If unavoidable, take enough breaks to relax your eyes and blink often to keep your eyes moist. Practice eye exercises 

Wear sunglasses or protective goggles to prevent dust, pollutants, or allergens from entering your eyes. Stay indoors when air quality outside is poor or the weather is extreme. Use a humidifier if the air inside your home is dry.

Possible Complications of Untreated Eye Irritation

Eye irritation usually can be managed at home with enough self-care and mostly doesn’t lead to complications. However, in case the eye irritation is because of a foreign object that may have entered the eye, negligence may cause corneal scratches. This could cause more pain and further irritation. 

Allergic eye irritations may induce other symptoms if not identified and treated in time. Irritations in the eye caused due to prolonged screen time make the eyes dry and prone to infections and other eye conditions. Such irritation is also likely to cause blurry or double vision and headaches.