Rubbing your eyes may temporarily alleviate discomfort due to itching, but it’s not healthy. In fact, it can cause infection, dark circles around your eyes and even poor eyesight. Elite Vision Care, an eye center, explains why you should resist the urge to rub your eyes.
Why You Rub Your Eyes
One of the first things you probably do when you wake up in the morning is rub your eyes. The gentle pressure helps you wake up and wipe away any mucus and debris that accumulated in your eyes overnight. It also stimulates the lacrimal glands, which produce tear films to soothe your eyes.
Apart from reflex or habit, you may also want to rub your eyes because of itchiness. Some people with allergies experience a tingling sensation in the eyes. This makes them want to rub their eyes even more. Eye problems, such as blepharitis, eyestrain, dry eyes and pink eyes, may also trigger itching of the eyes.
Eye Infection
You use your hand for just about everything, from cooking, typing on your keyboard and brushing your hair. This means you have an abundant amount of bacteria clinging to your hands. Whenever you touch your eyes, some of these bacteria are transferred, which can lead to infections or inflammations. Get in touch with your adult or pediatric eye care specialist if you notice swelling of the eye after rubbing your eyes.
Poor Vision
You may accidentally scratch your cornea while rubbing your eyes, which can impair your vision. Visit a local eye clinic if you experience eye pain, light sensitivity, blurry vision or eye fatigue.
Dark Circles
The skin around your eyes is thin and delicate. You can damage the tiny blood vessels beneath the skin’s surface by rubbing your eyes. The blood vessels will then break, giving the skin a darker color.
Rely on Elite Vision Care for a comprehensive eye exam and other vision treatment. We also help diagnose different eye conditions such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration disease and cataracts. Call us today (281) 205-0002 to learn more about our products and services. We serve residents of League City, TX.