When to use VISINE® products?
VISINE® brand offers a range of products that can help keep your eyes comfortable, ensuring they look and feel their best.
Red or Irritated Eyes
What causes Red Eyes?
We all occasionally get red eyes or irritated eyes. This may look like a red spot on your eye or red veins visible in your eye. This irritation can be caused by many things, such as dust, smoke, pollution, lack of sleep, use of alcohol, or eyestrain from working on a computer screen or driving.
VISINE® brand offers a range of products that can help to alleviate your symptoms,such as red eyes,and get your eyes back to looking and feeling their best, such as VISINE® Original and VISINE® Advance Triple Action.
If the redness and irritation worsen or persist for longer than 72 hours, if pain develops, or if you experience changes in your vision, contact your doctor for an appointment as soon as possible.
Tired Eyes
If you work in an office, chances are you've experienced eye irritation, including eyestrain, dry eyes, burning, and light sensitivity. While there are many contributing factors to "tired eyes", the most important cause is that we actually blink two-thirds less often when we're looking at a computer screen. Since blinking is how our eyes keep themselves moist, that's a significant problem.
Other contributing factors include the fact that most of us open our eyes wider to look at computer screens, thereby worsening the dry feeling in our eyes. Extremely bright lighting in your office and an improperly set-up computer monitor can also cause irritation and strain on your eyes.
What you can do
Help yourself blink more:
- It may sound obvious, but giving yourself a reminder to blink more often, such as a note on your monitor, can really help.
- Every 10 or 15 minutes, take a moment to look around at things in your work area that are at varying distances, or look out your window.
Reduce glare and reflection:
- Move your computer so that windows are to the side rather than to your front or back, and move desk lamps so they don't shine onto your computer screen or into your eyes.
- Turn off overhead lights that are too bright, switch to a lower wattage bulb, or use a desk lamp.
- Attach a glare-blocking hood or glare filter to your monitor.
Position your monitor properly:
- Your monitor should be a reasonable distance from your eyes, between 20 and 26 inches (50 cm to 66 cm) away, and kept clean and dust-free.
- If you regularly type from documents, your document holder should be as close to the screen as possible.
- If your work area is properly lit, you should end up with a brightness setting in your monitor's mid-range. If your screen's white seems to glow like a light source, it's too bright; if it seems grey, it's not bright enough.
- Adjust the contrast to the highest level you find comfortable. Use a text size that's large enough for you to see easily from your normal viewing position. Remember, the easiest colour combination for your eyes to read is black text on a white background.
If you've tried these suggestions and find that working with your computer still bothers your eyes, try scheduling an appointment to see your eye doctor.
Dry Eyes
Dry eyes can make you feel frustrated causing you to be less engaged and disconnected from what is happening around you. Did you know that you have two kinds of tears: reflex tears when you cry, and lubricating tears that spread over the surface of your eye each time you blink? Lubricating tears are essential for healthy eyes because they wash dust and small particles out of the eyes and keep them moist.
DRY EYE CAUSES
While dryness occurs as a natural part of the aging process, many other factors cause the eye to not produce enough lubricating tears or make this tendency worse. Some of these factors include:
- medications like antihistamines, antidepressants, and birth control pills
- dry, smoky, or windy weather conditions
- heaters and air conditioners
- some medical conditions, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis
- long-term contact lens usage
- smoking
DRY EYE TREATMENTS
Dry eye syndrome is an ongoing medical condition that can't be cured, but the accompanying symptoms of dryness, scratching, and burning can usually be managed and relieved:
- use a humidifier to keep the air around you moist
- avoid contact lenses and eye makeup
- avoid air conditioners, hair dryers, wind, and smoke
- wear wraparound sunglasses when you go outside
Watery Eyes
WATERY EYES CAUSES
Two very different factors are common causes of excessively watery eyes: allergies (or other inflammation) and, strange as it may sound, dry eye syndrome.
When you have allergies, your body releases histamines that cause your eyes to water. See the section on Allergy Eyes for more information about how to help control this condition.
Dry eye syndrome often causes your body to produce more tears than normal; however, these are reflex tears and not lubricating tears, so even though the amount of tears has increased, your eye still doesn't get the lubrication it needs. The section on Dry Eyes contains more detail about how to treat this.
Allergy Eyes
HOW TO IDENTIFY ALLERGY EYES
Allergic reactions can trigger a number of different symptoms,including redness, itching and watering.
Allergy eyes typically present with:
- Runny nose
- Redness, itchiness and swelling of the eyes
They also tend to occur in allergy season or around allergy triggers.
These symptoms are very common and are non-contagious. Symptoms are most often caused by an allergic reaction to triggers such as pollen, mold, dust, or pet dander.
On days when the pollen content in the air is high, it's best to keep the windows and doors in your home closed. Dust and vacuum your home frequently to get rid of, or at least control, the causes of allergies. As well, consider getting an air conditioner to help filter out dust and pollen.
If you suffer from eye allergies, eye drops such as VISINE® Advance with Antihistamine can help relieve your symptoms.
OTHER ALLERGY EYE CAUSES
If your symptoms also come with a sticky yellow-white discharge, this could be a result of a bacterial infection. For treatment, you can try using an antibiotic eye drop such as POLYSPORIN® Eye Ear Drops 15mL or consult your doctor.
If your symptoms also come with a clear discharge and possible sore throat, this could be a result of a viral infection.
In all cases, applying a warm compression can help comfort your eyes.